Timeless
by FabIsHere
Summary: Diana Crane has a great power, time manipulation. Her powers come from her father who she escapes from at the age of nine to be found wandering the streets by Black Canary & Green Arrow. Canary, Dinah Lance, takes her in as her adopted daughter. Diana takes the alter-ego of Timeless, a crime fighting heroine. She loves her job, specially when she gets to be with the other proteges.
1. Prologue

**Hey, guys! I came up with this idea while reading some Robin/OC stories, and I thought it would be nice to contribute to the collection we have here in . So, I came up with this. This is just the prologue, to give you a little insight on what happened to Diana and what her heritage is. Alright? Cool! Please, don't get any ideas, and do not steal my story. I will hunt you and hurt you, this is not a threat, but it is a promise. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character or scene that appears in Young Justice. I own the character, Diana Crane and her whole story (including parents). All associations or similarities to Diana Crane are completely coincidential. I also own any of the scenes that do not occur in Young Justice. **

* * *

**Gotham City**

** February 28, 2004**

** 21:08 EDT**

I ran and ran and ran as hard and fast as my little legs could carry me. Often, I would trip over discarded boxes and trash littered across the dark marble floor of Gotham City.

How could she leave me?

I turned my feet to quietly step over a number of old and dirty newspaper articles in a dark alleyway. There was a construction going on right next-door. The noise comforted me; I wasn't so alone when there were sounds present. I pressed my pale and tattered hands against my heavy eyelids.

I willed myself not to, but the tears easily came down my pale eyes to my sharp chin, where they went along to make my clothes stick against my chest. I let a heavy sob leave my clogged throat.

She had just suddenly said that she loved me and went ahead to sleep on forever, I wanted to say 'wake up, mom', I hoped it was just one of her tricky jokes.

I knew it was real though, she's been having this problem for a long while now, and she was finally gone.

I couldn't stay with my dad, not with him; I didn't like the things he did.

I would look in the small television screen back at home and look at how Superman and Batman would always get the most screen time, and how everyone said they were the good guys and how everybody loved them, but hated my father.

I soon realized that my father was the villain.

Does that mean I was a villain, too?

I certainly didn't want to be one.

I knew his powers were strong, maybe even better than Superman or Flash's, but I wanted to use them like Wonder Woman and Aquaman did.

I wanted to help people, but not in the way my father said he helped humanity, in the way that when people heard of me in the radio, they would be happy to hear my name.

My mother though I would be good doing it. I was happy she thought that. Going against my mom's wishes, I told my father about my plan to become a super heroine too; he shouted at me for so long, that's when I stopped talking to him. Both my mom and I.

I missed my mother; she was the only one who believed in me, that I could make a difference in the world. That is, until I heard running footsteps getting louder and louder with every single step taken.

I instantly stopped my shivering and hiccupping, paralysed in fear. What if it was the Joker or the Riddler running around the streets of Gotham? They were worse than my father; he would have mercy on his child.

"What is a little girl as pretty as you doing here, huh?" A man with blond hair and a green hood asked me, he had a mask on, and I couldn't see his eyes.

He had a bow and arrow wrapped on his back, I instantly recognised him. He was one of those superheroes from the television!

"Green Arrow, can't you see you're scaring her? That's not how you talk to a little girl." The blond woman next to him was very pretty.

She looked at me with kind eyes before asking, "—are you okay? Why are you here?"

Strangely, almost against my will, I trusted this lady with the black clothes.

"I ran away." I said simply, quickly standing up and getting as far away as I could, not having the wall pressed against my back anymore was a relieve with two unknown adults here.

The blond lady nodded; looking at Green Arrow. "Okay, then. I'm Black Canary and this is Green Arrow, what's your name?"

I hesitated, should I tell her? She looked at me with such a sensible expression, like she knew what I felt, that I was tempted to blurt out everything. Besides, I think she was a superhero, too. Even though I had only the vaguest memory of seeing her before.

"I'm Diana Crane."

"Well, Diana, we better get you somewhere safe. The streets of Gotham at night isn't really where a girl like you should be." Black Canary reassured me with her sweet as cotton voice.

Green Arrow ruffled my chestnut hair, making it messier than the wind had as I ran away from my mother's corpse in the poor hospital.

I couldn't help but let out another sob.

Black Canary and Green Arrow looked at each other as she held my hand, her eyes looked like mine, I noticed.

I remembered having one last thought, _they look like a cute couple._

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**Gotham City**

** March 3, 2010**

** 18:34 PST**

I laughed as Dinah and I ran around the house, trying to tidy everything up before Ollie came over for dinner.

Today had been very uneventful, no missions to complete, and no people to save. Dinah and I had been watching movies and I had done my homework for the next day.

Gotham Academy gave you so much homework sometimes, I was kind of glad there hadn't been much action today.

Dinah and her relationship with Ollie had also been getting better each and every passing year.

I was extremely happy for the duo, and couldn't help but be in awe at their antics. Of course, sometimes I couldn't help but gag at them, too.

"I'm here! Who wants Italian?" I heard Ollie shout from the front door. I ran up to the millionaire, and hugged him tightly.

I always said 'hi, future dad' whenever I saw him because I knew that him and Dinah had decided to get married someday. Since she was my adoptive mother, it automatically made him my adoptive father.

He ruffled my brown hair affectionately, "Hey, Diana! How's my favourite girl?" He smiled as he picked me up, spinning me around. "Don't tell Dinah I said that…"

"You got it, Ollie!"

Dinah came over to us with her yellow sundress and gave Ollie a big kiss on the cheek. She muttered something about him getting what he wanted later on.

I could only cringe at their innuendos; this was how it's always been.

This is probably how it's always going to be.

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**Review please! :)**


	2. Independence Day

**Start City**

** July 4, 9: 30 PST**

"Ollie, if you had told us you and Speedy had this under control, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Black Canary argued as her and Green Arrow discussed the fact that he had called her and I into a mission, and when we got there, Freeze Jr. had already been incarcerated. I agreed with my mentor, I could have been at home, watching the television, if not for dear old Oliver.

"Women…" Roy scuffed from next to me. We were both sitting on a large trashcan in a particularly dirty alley way as the couple bantered back and forth.

"You're just mad that you can't understand us, that's probably why you don't have a girlfriend. If you also just changed you're attitude—" I raised my hand to point at him to emphasize my point.

"—Alright, genius, I get it. Be less uptight is number two on my checklist." Roy cut me off with a snarky remark. I smirked up at him.

I heard Black Canary let a heavily dramatic sigh out of her lips. "Okay, guys, we're having lunch before you have to get to the HQ. Let's go." Roy and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes behind our masks.

This is how it normally goes and goes. They fight, and then they act as if nothing ever happened the next second. It drove Roy and I nuts, to the point of even asking them to move to Ollie's house together, so Roy and I could occupy Dinah's house without their weird relationship actions.

The four of us quickly changed to our civilian clothing. I had always hated having to change from my uniform to regular clothes because it was so hard.

I had a grey full-body costume with white stripes running along the sides of the pants and the arms until the lines reached my gloves and feet and it turned them all white. The suit was also covered in white from my chest down to my upper legs. My grey utility belt ran diagonally from the top of my waist to its bottom. My mask was very much like Speedy's, except that instead of having black around the edges, it was the same dark grey from my suit. The white material of my suit was made out a bulletproof, and heavy, material.

I liked my costume, it was perfect for combat, but I would like it more if it was easy to take off.

"Alright, who wants to go eat Mexican today? I know this restaurant that will blow you three of your feet!" Ollie exclaimed, raising his hands up in exaggeration. Dinah and I looked at each other, smiling at his silliness. Roy only crossed his arms across his broad chest; he was never exactly the friendly type.

"Well, I know _I _wouldn't mind Mexican today." I responded.

**Washington D.C**

** July 4, 14:00 EDT**

Green Arrow, Black Canary, Speedy, and I arrived at the hill in front of the Hall of Justice. I sighed contentedly to myself; it was nice knowing that the League trusted you enough to let you in its HQ.

I nudged Robin with my elbow, making him mock wince when I made contact with his shoulder.

"Are you excited?" He asked.

"Of course I am! It's the Justice League's headquarters, remember?" I smiled, ruffling his jet-black hair.

"We have waited a long time for this, haven't we?"

"You're nervous, aren't you?"

"How did you know?" His eyes widened behind the domino mask.

"I've known you for three and a half years now, Bird Boy. I think I can tell your mood changes and all that." I put a hand on my hip, pointing a finger at his chest. He grabbed it and pretended he was about to chew it; I let him, until he actually bit my finger and I retreated it with a punch on his arm.

"Alright, _that_ one hurt!" He rubbed his arm.

"Hello, Robin, Timeless, Speedy." Aqualad regarded all of us with a smile and a nod.

I came to stand in front of the Antlantian to give him a brief hug; I hadn't seen him in so long, a month to be exact. Kaldur returned the hug and let go of me, letting me fall right next to him as we awaited the arrival of Flash and Kid Flash.

"It's ironic how they're always the last ones." Robin muttered in front of Batman.

A slightly distant _'Oh man!'_ was heard from behind us, and everyone turned around to see Flash and Kid speeding towards us.

Wally didn't seem too happy to be the last one; I had to bite my lips to refrain from letting out a chuckle. "I knew we'd be the last ones here!"

Our mentors made their way down the hill to the entrance of the Hall of Justice, the rest of us teenagers hot on their heels.

There was a small group of paparazzi formed in the front of the large dome, and questions were being shouted at us from all angles.

_'Is that Batman?'_

Yes, it is, can't you see the giant Bat on his chest?

_'I see Flash and Flash Junior!'_

Poor Wally…

_'I thought his name was Speedy?'_

_'No! Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick!'_

_ 'Well, that makes no sense.'_

Sometimes I thought that, too.

_ 'Is that Timeless? I hear she can stop and reverse time!'_

Also, I can fast forward it, but who counts, right?

_'Is she with Black Canary?' _

Have you not seen us together, ignorant civilian?

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green Arrow asked both Speedy and I. I saw the first smile Roy had given anyone today, and we both looked at each other, grinning in excitement. "Born that way."

"I'm glad we're all here." Aqualad announced.

"As am I," I nodded.

"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid gushed, and I mean it, he gushed.

"_Don't_ call us sidekicks, not after today." Speedy snapped in Wally's direction. I gave him a pointed look, telling him to calm down.

"Sorry, first time at the hall. I'm a little overwhelmed." Kid Flash apologised.

"You're overwhelmed. Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin said.

"Probably because it isn't a word, Bird Brain!" I pointed out.

"Well, it is now!" Our English teacher was not going to be very excited with her most troublesome pupil making up a word all of a sudden. She already had enough against Dick.

Everyone marched into the Hall of Justice, and I sucked in a tight breath.

The statues were huge! I could not believe such a great thing was kept from our view. When I get older, I want to be in the Justice League, just so I can get someone to make a giant statue of me next to the superheroes.

A door opened to reveal Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter behind it. "Welcome, Speedy, Aqualad, Timeless, Robin, Kid Flash." Martian Manhunter said as he led us through the door that slammed shut when we came through. "Now, you have unlimited access to the gym, our gallery, and of course, the library."

"Make yourselves at home!" Flash smiled, raising his hands in the air.

Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad took the three seats available, making Speedy and I have to stand in awkward silence. I glared at Robin to give up his seat, but he just smirked at me, slowly moving out of the seat.

"I'll give you my seat, babe." Wally flirted, standing up, signalling for me to sit in his chair.

"Hey, KF, she already asked _me_." Robin crossed his arms across his chest.

Kid put his hands up in mock defense, "Alright, Bird Boy, don't get too jealous."

I rolled my eyes at them, sitting down on Robin's chair at last, I was tired out already, and it wasn't even time to go home. I just wished to curl up in my bed at Dinah's house in Gotham and relax; all this excitement cut out a lot of my energy supply.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long." Batman announced to us. The zeta-beams scanned the seven Leaguers in front of us, quickly reciting their names by heart.

"That's it? You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!" Roy demanded. The four of us teenagers looked at it each other. _This can only mean trouble. _

"It's a first step. You've been granted access a few others get." Aquaman reasoned.

"Oh really?" Roy pointed at the glass window that showed tourists looking into him argue with the older men. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on!"

"Roy, you just need to be patient." Green Arrow tried to calm Speedy down, but even I knew it was a futile attempt.

"What I need is respect!" Roy snarled. "They're treating us like kids, worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!"

I pressed my gloved hand against my temple, rubbing it slowly. I honestly hated when Roy started getting all irrational and impulsive. It brought havoc between us, and between the Justice League when he started fighting.

I just wanted to smack him in the face now, we were slowly building our way up to being Leaguers, and Roy is going to blow that chance that he had by behaving like a spoiled child.

Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin and I looked in between each other. We all silently disagreed with Speedy, but he was our friend after all, we didn't exactly want to tell it straight up to his face.

"You're kidding, right? You're playing their game?" Roy was incredulous now. "Today was supposed to be _the _day! Step one to becoming full-fledged members of the League!"

"Well, sure, but I thought step one was supposed to be a tour of the HQ." Kid Flash explained almost reluctantly.

"Except this isn't the League's real HQ! I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists, and a pit stop for catching zeta-beam teleporter tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite called the Watchtower!"

That was the last straw for my three friends, they looked shocked and betrayed, and I guess they were. No one ever told them the truth about the Justice League's Headquarters.

I looked at Black Canary, silently agreeing with her to tell no one that I also knew about the Watchtower.

Ollie had spilled the secret when he took Roy and I in a walk at Central Park when we'd gone for a mission to New York. I looked at Green Arrow, and we agreed on the same thing. _Don't let anybody know. _

"You are not helping your cause here, son, stand down or—" Roy rudely interrupted Aquaman.

"—Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his," Roy looked pointedly at Ollie, "I thought I was his partner, but not anymore." Speedy threw down his hat, and it landed with a thud.

My eyes widened in horror. "What are you doing?" He only gave me a slight shake of the head before saying, "I guess they were right about you four. You're not ready." He left after that one last sentence.

I stood in front of my chair. The back of my eyes stung with anger. Roy was like a brother to me, and he couldn't even say sorry for being so harsh? For leaving me, _us,_ so suddenly?

I felt a heavy hand press against my shoulder-blade, and when I looked at it, I instantly knew it was Robin's glove. I attempted smiling at him, but it turned into more of a grimace. I wanted Dick to know that I was okay, or, at least trying to be.

An alarm cut through the surprised silence, and Clark's face popped on a giant screen, "_Superman to Justice League: There has been an explosion on Project Cadmus. It's on fire." _

"I've had my suspicions on Project Cadmus," Batman spoke up, "This may present the perfect opportunity to—"

"_Zatara to Justice League: The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response." _Zatara's face also appeared on the wide computer screen.

"Superman?" Batman pried.

_"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control." _Superman decided to answer. I could tell that it was not just a _small fire _if Clark asked the Justice League to go investigate.

"Then Cadmus can wait." Batman pressed a large button on the League's keyboard. "All Leaguers rendezvous to Zatara's coordinates. Batman out."

The computer went black as soon as Bruce stopped talking. The four of us approached our mentors, ready for action, but Batman told us to stay put.

I looked at Black Canary and huffed, she only shook her head, _listen to Batman. It's for your own good._ I had seen that look from her so many times. I was starting to wonder if she saved it only for me.

I heard arguing from both Robin and Aquaman. "You're not trained—" Flash started, but got cut off.

"Since when!" Kid Flash shouted.

"I meant you're not trained to be part of this team." Flash gave Wally a very quick glare. _Do not defy my authority, Wally._

"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aquaman finished with the explanation.

"But for now," Batman spoke, "Stay _put."_ The League members left, leaving us all dumbfounded.

Wally huffed. "When we're _ready_? How are we ever going to be ready if they keep treating us like, like…" He scouted his brain. "Sidekicks!"

"Thank you, for rubbing that in our faces some more." I answered with no energy.

"My mentor, my king…I thought he trusted me." Kaldur muttered, with the same upsetting demeanour as me.

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics!" Kid retorted. "They've got a secret HQ in _space!_"

"What aren't they telling us?" I rubbed my white-gloved fingers over my masked eyes.

"I've got a better question," Robin finally spoke up in between the confusion, "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

That left us thinking, and I sighed. I actually had the thought of leaving with Speedy on my mind, but decided not to let rage cloud my judgment, and stay.

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad mumbled.

I was almost glad he asked that. I felt a growing need to prove to my mentor, to my _mother_, that I could do what she did. That I could find out things that even the League couldn't by themselves. I wanted to prove to her that I was ready. I was strong enough for the job.

"I don't know, but I can find out." Robin smirked mischievously. Oh, I definitely liked it when he got like that.

Robin started hacking the software of the League's computer, leaving us other three watching in amusement and amazement.

"_Access denied." _The computer announced.

"Ha, wanna bet?" Robin's smirk only grew as he silently gloated the fact that he could get through any security program ever invented.

"How exactly are you doing that, Rob?" I inquired, resting my elbow next to the metal keyboard, watching his moves.

"Same system as the Batcave!" Robin grinned at me, and it was one of his 'to drool for' smiles that won over ladies from all over the globe.

"_Access granted." _The computer said in that monotone voice that unnerved me.

"Project Cadmus: genetic lab here in D.C…That's all there is." Robin paused, "But if Batman's suspicious, then maybe we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do. It would be Poetic Justice." Aqualad smiled, realising Robin's master plan was actually pretty good.

"Hey!" Robin chuckled, "They're all about justice!"

I rolled my eyes, "Good one, Bird Boy."

"Thank you very much!" Robin sarcastically bowed.

Aqualad sighed abruptly, "They said stay put."

I groaned, "Kaldur, you know I love you, but stop being such a goody-two shoes!"

"Goody-two shoes?" He asked in confusion.

"Never mind that. They said stay put for the _blotting out the sun_ mission, not this!" Robin interrupted us with a goofy smile on his face.

"Wait, are you going to Cadmus?" Wally's face lit up, "'Cause if you're going, I'm going!"

"You can count me in, too, Commander!" I saluted Robin with a smirk plastered across my face. Wally joined me in on the joke, and imitated my actions.

We all turned to Aqualad with pleading grins on our faces, trying to make him give in to our ingenious plan. "Just like that, we're a team on a mission?"

"We didn't come for a play date." Robin answered.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

When we arrived to Cadmus, the building was still on fire, much to my surprise. You would think that the fire could have been taken out in less than half an hour, but no. There must have been some chemical that mixed into the fire so it was more water resistant.

"_Help!" _

_ "Get us out of here!" _

Two scientists were shouting pleas into the air as the fire came closer to them. An explosion resounded throughout the area, making my ears ring, and gravity sucks the two scientists right out of the building. Kid ran ahead, catching the two older men easily by their lab coats, and hoisted them up to the building again.

Wally almost fell down as he lost momentum in the end, making my heartbeat louder. Now, he lay dangling on the ledge of the building's roof.

"_So _smooth." Robin chuckled.

"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad muttered, angered at the youngster's antics.

"That's what he does, Aqualad, and you know it." I reasoned.

"I do, but we need a plan, we—" Kaldur paused. I looked to the spot where Robin once was, as an almost evil cackle was heard.

Robin was running on the roof of the fire truck, going up the ladder and shooting his grappling hook onto Cadmus' building, grabbing Kid by the arm as he lost grip of the ledge.

I rolled my eyes, a smile on my lips. "Show off!"

Aqualad grabbed some of the water from the fireman's hose and created a liquid tornado to go up the building. He motioned me to go up with him. I stepped on the water gingerly; I was surprised to find it solid as a brick.

Kaldur dropped me off where Robin and Kid were and went up to rescue the two men, placing them down on the ground.

I waited for him outside, and we went in to where Kid was guarding the door, and Robin was hacking the security.

"I appreciate the help." Aqualad deadpanned.

"You handled it! Besides, we're here to investigate." Robin breezed his way out of a lecture like he did it every other day.

I looked through cabinets, searching for something that could possibly spark Batman's interest.

Suddenly, a closing door was heard, and I ran out with Kid to see Aqualad in shock. "There was something in the—"

"Elevators aren't supposed to be working!" I realized, running up to it. Robin came to stand behind me, and pressed twice on the down button.

"This is wrong." Robin spoke, opening his portable computer.

"What gave you that idea?" I said irritably.

"Apart from the elevator working? Nothing..." Robin muttered distantly, "Aha! This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad spoke. He opened the elevator doors with an ongoing grunt. Sometimes, I could only stand in awe when Kaldur demonstrated his strength.

Atlantians and their super powers, I swear.

I peeked over the ledge, surprised at how deep in it went. Robin propped his grappling hook, motioning me to hold onto him.

"I can just slide down the side of elevator, and use one of my foam pellets to land on top of the elevator." I patted Robin's hand away.

"Timeless, we're not sure to which floor the elevator went to. Robin's line might not go as far down as the cabin did. We can get separated. It's better if you go with him." Aqualad decided.

"Hold on tight to your boyfriend!" Kid Flash joked as I took hold of Robin's broad shoulders, and one of his arms wrapped tightly across my back, pressing me against his side to secure I wouldn't fall off.

He might have pressed me into him a little more than necessary.

"Now is not the time, Flash Junior!" I grunted as Robin and I went down. My stomach went up to my throat, making me hold on tighter to Dick. I felt my hair flutter violently on top of me, tickling Robin's face so much he started laughing.

"Control your hair, D!" He rolled his face to the other side.

"_You _control your nerve system!" I snapped back, clawing at his back desperately.

We came to a lurching stop, "I'm at the end of my rope." Both of us swung forward, clinging to the wall of sublevel twenty-six. Aqualad and Kid Flash came behind us, sliding down Robin's rope, too.

Robin started to hack through the level's software, and Aqualad opened the elevator doors once he gave the signal that he was done hacking security. The doors opened to show a maroon tainted room with a long hallway leading up to the end of the room.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin announced in as much shock as us.

Kid sped off, leaving us three to trail behind him. We all ran after him.

We caught up with Kid and I had to take one step back. What were _those?_ They seemed like giant mammoths with red eyes, and a little _thing _was perched on their backs. The mammoths made high-pitched gurgling sounds, they reminded me of monsters in a movie.

"No, nothing odd going on here." Aqualad said, out of breath. The mammoths walked past us, as the little creatures looked upon us, their horns glowing bright red.

We moved slowly through the left side of the hallway, encountering a high-security vault door in the end of the narrower passage. Robin found this door harder to hack through to open, and that only sparked our interests more.

The door opened with a loud click, "Okay, I'm officially whelmed."

"I couldn't agree with you more." I said, my eyes widening to their largest behind the mask. There were thousands of pods in lines, all filled with liquids and a strange creature inside of them. Their brown skin sickened me to see, and the electricity going into their tanks made them look extra creepy.

"_This _is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world!" Kid Flash exclaimed, "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates its own power with these…things."

"It must be what they're bred for!" I finished the explanation. I touched the glass of one of the experiments, and watched as the creature inside floated in a trance.

"Of course, even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragon teeth into the Earth." Kaldur explained.

Robin and I shared a look, thinking the same thing, _what exactly is this new race for?_

"And this Cadmus creates new life, too." Robin spoke up.

"Let's find out why?" I inquired at our master hacker; he nodded, and set to work with his arm computer.

"They call them genomorphs." Robin started. I looked over his shoulder, processing all the data that the computer gave us of this (most surely) illegal project.

"Guys, come look at these stats! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws…these are living weapons!" I finished.

"They're engineering an army." Kid muttered darkly. "But for who?"

"Wait there's something else," Robin went on, "Project Kr…Ugh, the file's triple encrypted. I can't—"

"—Don't move!" My heart stopped beating for a whole second as I whirled around to face a man I recognized, Guardian. He was with some of the genomorphs at his side, was he working for Cadmus?

"Wait, Robin, Aqualad, Timeless, Kid Flash?" For a second, Guardian seemed dumbfounded into his spot.

"At least he got your name right." Robin smirked at Wally.

"Robin, this is not time for jokes." I shook his shoulder.

"I know you, Guardian, a hero." Aqualad said.

"I do my best." Guardian spoke modestly.

"Then what are you doing _here?" _Kid Flash asked impulsively. I thought it was pretty obvious why he was down here. Guardian was a traitor.

As Guardian explained that he was chief of security, Robin and I glanced at the computer as it beeped. It was done downloading the information we needed to show the Justice League, and just in time. Guardian commanded the genomorphs to fight us.

The four of us took fighting stances before Robin threw down a smoke pellet, as he shot his grappling hook in the air, and landed on the other side of the fight, where he ran away. I hope he was at least going to do something useful if he wasn't fighting.

I punched and flung off as many genomorphs as I could. I roundhouse kicked one of them on the top of the head, and started spiralling sideways so I could perform an advanced kick on the other. I gagged one with a smoke pellet from my utility belt.

There were too many of them coming from either side of me. They grabbed me by the arms, pulling on them until I felt that they were going to be ripped out of my body.

I concentrated hard, and suddenly, the pulling wasn't happening anymore, and the noise had been reduced to complete silence. I opened my eyes, looking at how the scene before me had been frozen still. A shiver passed down my spine, and a smile formed on my face, no more pulling arms.

I disengaged from the genomorphs, quickly carrying them in my arms and dumping them on one corner of the room. I quickly heaved Aqualad and Kid Flash to the other side of the room. I grabbed Guardian and his genomorph, throwing them down with the other enemies before unfreezing time and running toward Robin.

"Way to be a team player, Rob!" Wally shouted over the sirens blaring in front of the closed door Robin was trying to hack. Kaldur and I were a good distance behind them, and I could hear the genomorphs starting to catch up on us.

Aqualad and I ran towards the elevator that was now opened and I cartwheeled into the cabin just as it closed and I felt the elevator go down. At least that was done.

"We're headed down?" Aqualad exclaimed.

"Dude, out is _up!_" Wally pointed at Robin.

"Excuse me? Project Kr is down on sublevel fifty-two." The Boy Wonder said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Excuse me?" I mocked Robin, "—But this is way out of our control, Rob. We need League backup! We can't do this alone,this is too dangerous! One of us could _die _in here!"

Before Robin had the chance to answer back, the elevator doors burst open.

We were in sublevel fifty-two, and the four of us got into our fighting stances. If what we had just seen wasn't weird enough, well, they gave us this. The walls were a dark pink and squishy-looking. I felt like I was walking on goo. Baby genomorphs were growing everywhere around us.

"Which way?" Kaldur asked, annoyed with the fact we were actually doing this.

"Yeah, Robin, choose which bizarre hallway you merrily want to walk down to!" I hissed at him, grabbing him by the upper arm, and squeezing hard. Robin groaned and untangled my fingers from him.

"_Halt!" _What seemed to be an adult genomorph, shouted at us. He used his telepathy to throw metal barrels at us. We ran away from him as an explosion went on as the oil inside the cylinders collided with the walls.

Kid Flash sped ahead of us, and kept the door of Project Kr open as we slid through it. The door soon closed, crunching the metal that held it. Robin hacked the security, and locked the door behind us. "I disabled the door, we're safe."

"We're not safe. We're trapped!" Aqualad exclaimed.

"Uh, guys?" Kid reckoned us over to a keyboard, "You'll wanna see this." He pressed a button and a pod lit up, showing a boy, about sixteen or seventeen with a white body suit, and the Superman logo on it.

"Big k, little r! The atomic symbol for Krypton!" Kid Flash announced in awe.

"It looks an awful lot like Superman. A clone, I suppose?" I was mainly talking to myself, but Robin started hacking when I mentioned the word _clone. _

"Weapon designation: Superboy. A clone grown in _sixteen weeks?_ From DNA acquired from Superman!"

"Stolen from Superman." Aqualad clarified.

"His solar suit allows his to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four seven." Robin added.

"Genomorph gnomes. They're force feeding him education!" I exclaimed as I looked at Robin's computer.

"They're making a slave out of Superman's son…" Kid Flash said thoughtfully. I didn't really think Clark wanted to have a son that was a clone of his.

"We should contact the League." I muttered to Robin.

"No signal." He said after a few moments of waiting. "We're in too deep, literally."

I looked at Superboy, and instantly felt guilty if we just escaped. He was a human being, too. "Guys, we can't leave him."

"Set him free." Kaldur agreed with my request. "Do it." He commanded Robin after there was no movement from the Boy Wonder. Robin added in some digits into the computer, and the pod opened.

The four of us waited for a reaction, and next thing I knew, Superboy's eyes burst open and he flew towards Aqualad, punching him square in the face.

I went over to help Kaldur, I kicked Superboy in the eye, and he staggered back. Kid grabbed him from behind, and tried to strangle him, but Superboy just threw Wally like he was a rag doll.

Before Kid made contact with any hard surface, I focused to stop time, grabbing onto Wally who hung in midair with a hilarious expression on his face, and set him down onto the ground. I unfroze time and ran toward Superboy.

"Alright, that did it, Copy Face!" I shouted before punching Superboy mercilessly. Robin extended electric wires that connected to Superboy's chest, but he grabbed them and pulled Robin towards him, and stepped on him.

I grabbed Superboy, and kicked him behind the knee, making him fall down on the floor. I twisted him to that he stretched his legs and back until it hurt. Robin was passed out cold, and I knew I would be a dead man, too, if I didn't stop Superboy soon.

I willed time to stop once more, to try to lock Superboy in his pod, but the effort and focus that I had to put into my powers while being this exhausted from fighting a super strengthened boy only made me fall down on the floor, and see all black.


	3. Fireworks

_'Time runs short…'_

_ 'You must awaken!'_

_ 'You must awaken _now_!'_

I gasped as my eyes shot open in surprise, and I panted desperately. I blinked twice before realizing that I was trapped inside a glass pod. I couldn't move my body. I was glad to at least see that Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad were here with me.

I wasn't alone. Not anymore.

Superboy stood in front of us, glaring menacingly. "What? What do you want?" Wally demanded. Superboy only stared back.

"Quit staring, Copy Face!" I shouted at the clone, as he wouldn't stop glaring at us, this only made him look angrier.

This was just perfect.

"Uh, Timeless, how about we don't ridicule the guy who can fry us with one look?" Robin suggested, raising an eyebrow at me.

"We only sought to help you." Kaldur explained.

"Yeah, we freed you and you turn on us! How's that for gratitude?" Wally rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Kid, please be quiet now." Aqualad threated Wally. "I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."

I huffed, and grabbed for the pin that I always held beneath my gloves just in case.

Black Canary always suggested that I came prepared for any occasion. It proved that her advice was incredibly helpful.

"What if I—What if I wasn't?" Superboy questioned Kaldur's theory.

"He can talk?" Wally exclaimed in sarcastic surprise.

I glared at him, "Stop it, Kid." I did not want to take more of his stupid snarky remarks. They were driving me nuts.

"Yes, _he _can!" Superboy grunted in annoyance.

"Not like I said it." Kid Flash rolled his eyes.

"The genomorphs taught you, telepathically." Kaldur spoke.

"They taught me much. I can read, write, I know the names of things." Superboy answered.

"But have they ever let you see any of those things? Have you ever seen, for example, the moon? The sun? A park?" I asked.

I knew the answer to these things already; I just wanted Superboy to know that the environment in which they held him in wasn't good.

"Images are implanted in my mind," Superboy answered, and as an after thought, ", but no, I have no seen them."

"Do you know what you are?" Robin pried for information.

As Superboy gave a detailed explanation of what exactly he was, and we kept trying to convince him that he should leave Cadmus, a man in a lab coat showed up.

"Activate the cloning process." The man demanded. My heart started beating violently, what?

"Pass, Batcave's crowded enough!" Robin growled. I stared at him, what was it with him and his overprotectiveness of his and Batman's 'territory'?

"And get the weapon back in its pod!" The man shrieked.

"Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an it?" Kid retorted.

"Because you're younger than Superboy? Respect your elders!" I joked around, even though I was afraid for what could just be about to happen to us.

"Don't start thinking now!" The man shouted, and made one of the genomorphs to control Superboy's mind, it's horns glowing bright red.

As soon as Superboy left the room, two metal arms burst out from under me. I sucked in a tight breath, and they pierced the flesh of my chest. I screamed out in pain, I struggled against my metal holds, wriggling to get free, but it would not work.

My metal pin had fallen down onto the bottom of the pod when I got shocked. I could only shriek and shout out, knowing that if I stopped time, it would get a very hurt-filled sensation, so my powers would not work.

The electricity shooting out from the metal arms sucked in four tiny cylinders of my blood, and I whimpered in between the screaming.

I opened my eyes as the electricity stopped, and I kept whimpering for a few seconds before stopping.

I took a look around; Superboy was pushing away the Project Cadmus workers, and Robin had broken free, he opened up the pods, and I came stumbling out.

I fell down on the floor, still in shock and gasping, and Robin grabbed me by the arms, lifting me up on my feet. "If you're alive, you're alright." He smiled.

Robin always told me this; if I was breathing then I was fine. It was a short boosting pep talk he always gave me if I was in pain. If I were alive then it would be all right.

The five of us ran out of the room in a hurry, "You'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!" The man in the lab coat shouted.

"That guy is not whelmed." Robin said.

"And you are not sane!" I chuckled as we ran away after Robin exploded the tanks with our blood samples in them.

As we ran through the bizarre hallways to the elevator, we encountered the giant genomorphs, and the smaller ones appeared behind us.

The four of us protégés ran around the mammoths, but Superboy stood behind and started giving some serious pounding to every genomorph in his sight.

"Superboy, your goal is escape!" Kaldur reminded the clone. "Not to bury ourselves here!"

"You want escape?" Superboy shouted in uncontrollable rage, I staggered back, laughing at his angry facial expression.

Then, as he clutched a mammoth and threw him on top of the other genomorphs, I smirked; super strength, my friend.

Kaldur opened the elevator doors, and Kid jumped in. Robin tugged my waist suddenly, making me press up against him without a second to react before we were going up. We saw Superboy jump with Kaldur, but he quickly fell down, making me eyes widen, "Robin!" I tugged his arm.

He quickly threw a batarangs for Kaldur to hold on to. "Superman can fly, why can't I fly?"

"Don't know, but it looks like you can jump high distances. Still cool!" Kid grinned.

"Guys, this will have to be our exit!" Robin shouted as we saw the elevator cabin hurtling down on us. We got out at sublevel fifteen as the elevator kept going down, barely missing us.

We ran to our left as we saw genomorphs coming towards us. We kept fleeing as Superboy and Kid went ahead of Kaldur, Robin, and I.

Suddenly, Superboy shouted, "Turn left!"

"Left!" He shouted again as the hallway forked out. "Now right!"

Where the heck did Superboy just gain the information of our location so quickly?

We ran into a dead end, I knew it; Superboy was going to get us all killed.

"Great directions, Supey! Are you trying to get us re-podded?" I heard Wally shout as Kaldur, Robin, and I caught up with them two.

"No…I don't understand…" Superboy stammered.

"Don't apologize! This is perfect!" Robin looked up, and I realized what he was talking about. The wind chutes would get us out of here lickety-split.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry I doubted you! This is probably the best idea you've had yet, Superboy!" I slapped his shoulder as he boosted me up after Robin.

When we got in Superboy frantically shushed Kid, it was probably a super hearing thing. "Genomorphs are coming from behind!" Superboy whispered.

"Not to worry!" Robin smirked as he got his arm computer out and started hacking the security cameras, and other complicated things that were encrypted so I couldn't make out what they were.

As we kept moving Robin suddenly turned to us and announced in a proud voice, "I hacked the motion sensors!"

"If I could kiss you right now, I would, we now have a good chance to make it out!" I cracked a relieved smile.

Robin winked. "Why not do it then?"

Wally cleared his throat, "Sorry to call you out on this, Timeless. But all of us _also _helped escaping? Actually, you helped us too, so you should kiss yourself!"

"Shut it, Kid Mouth. You're just jealous because no girl offered to kiss you after we get out of an evil facility." I smirked deviously.

The amazing speedster Wallace West did not have a girlfriend. In fact, he was a bit of a, let's say, non-popular kid at his school.

"Never mind that!" Kid shouted when we got out of the wind chutes, "I finally have room to move!" He ran ahead, showcasing all of his speed power. Whenever he did that, he made my hair flutter, it kind of reminded me of an airplane taking off, but it was right next to you and not so loud.

"C'mon guys!" I started jogging towards where Kid had sped off.

Wally parted the genomorphs clogging the staircase we were going up in.

I punched one of the ugly looking guys in the face, just as a little revenge for them trying to shred me to bits and pieces. "There's more behind us!" Robin shouted, looking at his arm computer.

"Not a problem!" I smirked as I willed time to stop itself.

I grabbed a laser from my dark grey utility belt and melted the staircase where the genomorphs were coming from, cutting off them from us. Time returned back to normal.

"Do you know how weird it is when you do that?" Robin muttered, rubbing his head.

"Do you know how weird it is when you disappear like Batman?" I mocked him.

"No, but seriously, I don't actually know what you're doing when you stop time. I only have a splitting headache that makes me know that you just stopped time!"

I rolled my eyes. "You've known me for three years, Bird Boy. You should have gotten used to it."

I looked at Superboy, who stopped a few meters behind us, rubbing his head. I ran back to him, "Hey, Supey, it's normal to get headaches the first time you experience the stopping of time. Especially if you're this close to a time controller. The hurting will go away soon, alright?"

He nodded, and we bounded off to the rest of our little unorganized team.

When we got out of the staircase we were met by alarms blaring and the whole hallway tinted a bright red. Kid was strewn on the floor; he probably slammed onto the steel door in front of us as he was running by.

"We're cut off!" Kaldur growled in frustration.

"Thanks, my head hadn't noticed." Kid sassed back. I rolled my eyes, helping him to his feet, and trying to see if the bump in his head was going to cause more harm than just physical pain.

"Hey, mom, there are genomorphs coming. My head is fine, stop worrying." Wally grabbed my hands away from his head and led me to a whole in the wall that Robin kicked open for us.

We piled in, but at the other side, we were met by another group of genomorphs, and Guardian. We were surrounded and outnumbered one to one hundred.

We got into our fighting stances, but the smaller genomorphs' horns started glowing and the next thing I saw, we were all crumpling on the floor like heavy sacks of rice.

I could only see black.

"I choose _freedom_." Superboy's voice called out into my mind as I regained consciousness and stood up, looking around to see if anyone else was harmed.

"Feels like…fog lifting." Guardian realized. I felt the same way as he did. After I was out of the genomorphs' control, I felt like my mind was finally clearing.

Guardian was under mind control, like I just was a few seconds ago!

"Guardian?" Kaldur hesitated.

"Go." Guardian answered with more certainty that I had heard in anyone's voice tonight. "I'll deal with Desmond."

I'm guessing Desmond is the creepy guy in the white lab coat. At least I know he has a name now. "I think not." The genomorphs parted to reveal Desmond himself.

"Speak of the devil." I crossed my arms.

"Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus!" Desmond's voice was so sure of himself that it gave me the very reason to be alarmed when he drank the fluorescent blue liquid in the glass cylinder.

He started twitching, his bones cracking, and his whole body twisted in ways that disgusted me so much, he probably broke a muscle or two, but it didn't matter. When he stopped twisting, Desmond had become a huge rock-like monster, shreds of his lab coat surrounding in enlarged frame.

His eyes glowed as red as the horns of the genomorphs.

"Everyone back!" Guardian commanded as he charged at Desmond but got knocked over.

Superboy's rage started showing as he leaped and punched Desmond in the face continuously, weakening the monster more and more. It kept going on for longer than I would have liked.

Superboy got hit, Desmond got hit, Superboy hit, Desmond hit.

They jumped up and into the ceiling, creating a massive hole.

"Okay…" Robin grabbed my waist. "That's one way of busting out." He shot his grappling hook and up we went with Wally grabbing onto my hand. Kaldur jumped after us.

We watched in amazement as Superboy kept getting hit. He was just like Superman, got trampled at first, but would probably defeat the bad guy in the end, always does.

Superboy got thrown to Kaldur, and Robin, Kid Flash, and I grabbed them by their arms. We couldn't lose two valuable players if we were to win a fight with Desmond.

The five of us took our fighting stances as Desmond charged, and we ran to meet him with some serious pounding.

I gave the monster my most powerful kicks in the underside of the elbows and the knees, easily breakable spots in the body. It was enough of a distraction for Desmond that Kaldur and Superboy combined their strength to hit him.

Kid stood up behind Desmond, making him fall over.

Superboy charged again, but got sent back to a column and kept getting hits in the face from the big bad baddie.

Luckily, I turned around to be met by Robin's 'I've-got-an-awesome-plan' smirk. We really needed one of his master plans right now.

"Alright, Bird Boy, what are you planning?" I asked him.

"You'll see. Call Kid first, okay?" Robin said. I nodded.

I shouted for Wally to come running towards where Robin was crouching down with his arm computer open. He explained to us the plan, I must admit, that boy could have brains when he needed them. Apparently, in school (English and Art class), he didn't intend to use his intelligence much, though.

Kid and I ran in different directions, Robin in between us with chalk that he pulled out of his utility belt. He drew _x_ in one key place, as Wally and I got ready and into our stances.

Kid went first, grabbing a piece of flesh from Desmond's face and taunting him to chase him. Kid ran around, making one pillar fall down, but Desmond quickly realized chasing a speedster would get him nowhere, that's where I came in.

I jumped up in a flip and landed on Desmond's back, and as the monster tried shaking me off, I covered his eyes and started kicking him with all my might.

He ran around backwards, toppling over two other pillars, and with my head having some pretty close calls with the wall. Luckily, I stopped time right before I hit a pillar and changed position, just so I wouldn't get harmed.

I scrambled off of Desmond's back as Kaldur slammed his back onto the ugly's face, making the monster mad at him.

Three pillars down, four more to go.

As soon as I thought that, Superboy came in, making Desmond stagger back to another pillar with one blow in the gut.

Kid Flash and I made enough noise so Desmond would follow us in a patch of water that Kaldur created. Desmond, being stupid and big, slid across the water, landing on the white _x_ that Robin had drawn on the floor.

Kaldur shot electricity in the water, it reached Desmond, and the big guy growled in pain.

"Move!" Robin shouted. I noticed the batarangs he had shot in the last three other pillars as we ran past.

When Cadmus crumpled all around us, I was certain that we were dead meat, we escaped and probably mortally harmed Desmond, but we could have died with the whole building collapsing on us.

I stopped time just before the building collapsed though.

I grabbed Robin and Kid first, dragging their frozen bodies out of the building's collapsing range. Then, I slid Superboy, but couldn't carry Aqualad with him. Superboy was definitely heavy. Finally, I heaved Kaldur's body out of the range, and returned time to normal.

When Cadmus stopped crumbling, the guys realized what had happened, and patted my back in appreciation. I coughed some of the ashes from the fallen building out of my lungs.

"Thank you, D." Robin squeezed my shoulder.

"Don't mention it, Bird Boy." I grinned back at him.

Kaldur smiled, "We…We did it!"

I laughed in delight, falling down on the floor.

Robin and Kid Flash high-fived but grunted in pain afterwards. I laughed louder.

"Are you okay? You're not high on Joker Gas, are you?" Robin joked.

"I'm totally fine. This is probably the best I've felt in a while!" I smiled. It was true, I finally demonstrated, even to myself, what I was truly capable of.

"See? The moon!" Kid Flash gestured to the big white circle above us. Today, it was especially huge, like it knew Superboy needed to see it, and bask in it.

I stood up, and placed a hand on Superboy's shoulder. "You could say 'thank you', you know?" I raised an eyebrow jokingly.

He nodded, "Thanks."

"Any time, Supey!" I let out a laugh again.

Then, a dark shape flew across the moon towards us, no question who it was.

No, it wasn't a bird!

Nor was it a plane!

Or a frog!

It was Superman!

I just found that little saying from the movie and the series so ridiculously funny.

Now, where there is a Superman, there is a Batman, and where there is a Batman…there is a Black Canary ready to incinerate my body and kill me again when she dies and meets up with my soul.

Goody!

"Oh, and Superman! Do we keep our promises, or what?" Kid grinned.

"I'd say, or what…" I grumbled, suddenly dreading being out of Cadmus.

Robin looked toward me, nodding in agreement. _W__e are going to die and I don't want to die yet. _

Soon enough, the entire League landed on the ground that was once Cadmus, and I looked up at Green Arrow and Black Canary.

They were scowling at me; Ollie was shaking his head as if to say, _I already had a rebel act today. I didn't want another one. _

Superboy walked forwards, showing the 'S' mark on the chest of his body suit. Superman looked shocked and even disgusted.

Superboy turned back to us, the hurt of rejection evident on his face. I had the sudden urge to pull him to me and let his sorrow go away, he didn't deserve such a look from his _father_ after he saved us all!

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman demanded.

"He doesn't like being called an it!" Kid Flash muttered.

"And if you don't like getting slapped, then I suggest you cut it out!" I whispered back at him.

"I'm Superman's clone!" Superboy burst out. Wow, way to put it out there.

All the adults looked at each other in shock, I bet they were thinking about how it happened and what they were going to do about it. I would be, too.

"Start talking." Batman commanded after seconds of stunned silence.

As we explained everything that happened in our crazy adventure, Green Lantern and a few other Leaguers took Desmond away.

I was secretly glad that he was gone; I hadn't stopped thinking about what he'd do if he suddenly woke up.

We all waited in silence as all the adults talked in small separated groups. "What do you think they'll do?" I asked Robin who was next to me.

He rubbed his face, "Honestly? I have no idea anymore."

"Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty-two levels, but let's make one thing clear—" Batman was interrupted by Flash. "You should have called!"

"—And results aside, we are not happy." Batman finished. "You hacked Justice League's systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will _not _be doing this again."

I looked at Dinah and Ollie; they were nodding in agreement, silently discussing something, probably my punishment. I didn't want patrol taken away from me, and that was probably what my punishment would be. Oh, the joy!

Kaldur looked at all of us, and I understood what he wanted. It was crazy, but I felt the same, despite being grounded. "I am sorry, but we will."

"Aqualad, stand down!" Aquaman ordered.

"Apologies, My King, but no." Aqualad spoke. "We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful."

"If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you—" Flash got cut off.

"The five of us, and it's not." Kid said.

"This was about us doing what we could to save innocent lives, we stopped a whole invasion force! We did the things you do, but by ourselves, I say that we deserve to be heard without any further interruptions!" I retorted back at the League, it was probably something stupid of me to do.

"Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us, or why teach us at all?" Robin spoke softly, probably not wanting to anger his foster father.

"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple, get on board, or get out of the way!" Superboy said angrily.

We all looked at our mentors, filed in a line, and in that defining moment, I thought we had made the right choice standing up for ourselves. We were demonstrating courage, strength, wits, and ambition.

I had never been prouder of myself and of my little group of superhero friends.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

**Mount Justice**

**July 8, 08:04 EDT**

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League." Batman announced. "We're calling it into service again, since you five are determined to stay together, and fight the good fight. You'll do it on League terms."

I couldn't help but smirk at that despite the last four days having been horrible torture without being able to help any civilian or use my phone to at least socialize. I was under house arrest practically.

I still found it funny though, how we went behind the Justice League's back, a bunch of teenagers, and kicked some genomorph butt at Cadmus.

Batman saw me smirking, and glared at me. I could tell that Bruce wanted to smile too, but Batman commanded respect.

"Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary is in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions." Batman finished.

Okay, back it up, so my mom was going to train us? Great, she probably just wants to keep an eye on me.

"Real missions?" Dick asked, and from behind his sunglasses, I saw his blue eyes sparkling with doubt, but hope, too.

"Yes, but covert." I sensed a slight change of tone in Batman's voice, it took a protective feel to it, I smiled. Their dynamic was really sweet.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests." Flash joked.

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly." Aquaman looked towards Batman.

"The six of you will be that team." Batman finished.

"Cool!" Robin grinned.

"Whoa, slow down, the _six _of us?" I questioned. The four boys in our team realized Batman's words.

Batman looked toward something behind us, and all of us turned around. "This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian."

"Hi!" Miss Martian waved shyly at us.

I grinned, "Great, another girl in the team! I won't have to endure boys bragging about being better in video games alone!"

I hugged Miss Martian; it was pretty common in South American, where I was born in, to hug someone you first met instead of just shaking hands. "Hi, I'm Diana Crane, also known as Timeless. Nice to meet you!"

I had been born and lived in Colombia with my parents until I was seven, then we moved to Gotham City. I had adapted the culture from my father's birthplace.

Miss Martian smiled, visibly relaxing. "Nice to meet you, too!"

"I'm liking this gig more every minute!" Wally smirked flirtatiously. "Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Aqualad…It's cool if you forget their names."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled nevertheless.

"I'm honored to be included." Miss Martian clapped her hands together; I could tell she was going to be a really cool addition to the team.

Everyone crowded around her, trying to get to know her.

"Hey, Superboy, come meet Miss M!" Robin raised his arm up, gesturing Superboy to come with us. I knew our little group seemed smaller than it was supposed to be.

Miss Martian's shirt changed from white with a blue cape to black and no cape. "I like your shirt."

Superboy gave her a small smile, and I nudged him with my elbow alongside Dick and Wally.

"Today is the day." Kaldur spoke up.

I couldn't have agreed more with him.


	4. Nighttime Rebellion

**Gotham City**

** July 13, 21:34 EDT**

"I want to punch you in the face right now, Bird Brain!" I whispered menacingly at Dick as he shot his grappling hook at my balcony edge. Wally and him had decided that a night off, even if we were all grounded, would be great. Especially if it was after our bedroom lights were out and we were supposed to be sleeping.

What could go wrong with their plans?

Now, I stood on my balcony with Dick as we argued about how their plan was going to get us all grounded for more than just two weeks. I adjusted my long-sleeved white blouse with a huff.

"Hey, you've complained to me all week at school about how you would give up anything to get out of the house, now is your chance!" Dick shrugged; his blue eyes glinting in a way that could have convinced even the trickiest of people.

I was supposed to be the responsible one out of our little trio, but he was right, I wanted to bust out of this house so badly I could almost taste it. In response, I sighed and slid down the rope of Dick's grappling hook.

I landed with a thud on the dew of the green grass, "You better hide that grappling hook of yours, you can put it under the tree." I pointed at the sapling growing in our backyard.

"Glad you wanted to join the party, babe." Wally wrapped his arm around me, but I pulled it away with a smirk.

"You're already chasing after M'Gann. It's one at a time, tiger." I replied to his forever-going flirtatious antics.

"Besides, she promised to kiss me. So, as you can see, she has a thing for me, not you." Dick came up to us, winking slyly.

My mind was racing and my heart was panicking. "When did I say that?"

"You don't remember, Dear Diana? Back in Cadmus while we were in the wind chutes after you insulted me for _not having a girlfriend!_ How could I possibly forget?" Wally snapped at me jokingly.

I smirked. "In that case, I do believe I said I would kiss you if I could, but I never promised anything, Boy Wonder."

Dick cackled. "Man, this is _so _not whelming! I was hoping to get a kiss."

I knew he was kidding, of course he was, we sometimes teased each other like that, but I couldn't make the red tint itching itself upon my cheeks to go away.

My thick brown hair ruffled against the wind, making it messier than how it already was from rolling my head back and forth on my pillow.

We got out of my backyard, moving to the cemented streets. The lights were shining everywhere around us, and I couldn't help but stare at the city at night. I loved all the colours glinting, and the moon glaring down on us. There weren't any real stars out, but the lights in the tallest buildings were my made-up stars.

Wally, Dick, and I walked in a line as we passed shops and restaurants, moving aimlessly through Gotham City in an almost daze. I think we all just needed to get out of our houses, and simply enjoy each other's company.

We had not heard of each other in a while, and even though our legal guardians kept us posted about anything that happened, and we could watch the news channel to be updated on any catastrophe, I knew we all wanted one of those quiet night outs. We just needed to be normal kids today, not Timeless the Only Female Time Controller or Robin the Boy Wonder or Kid Flash the Fastest Boy Alive.

It was kind of those things that you know you need badly. We needed to have a simple night out with friends and just, well, being the real you. It was exactly what I had craved for the past few months, which were filled by tiring missions day and night, and barely any rest. It was really nice to have companions at your side as you walked somewhere to hang out and talk.

After months and months, I finally felt like a semi-normal kid. It made me happy.

"Are either of you hungry? Because I ran all the way from home to come for you guys and I'm currently starving!" Wally exclaimed, breaking the silence.

"A few burgers and fries wouldn't do us any harm." I shrugged, giving Dick my most innocent expression. He nodded in agreement and off we went, roaming the streets for a diner we all would like.

We passed one block, then two, three, and finally four before we came to an almost fully vacant restaurant that had a theme from the 70's. Dick suggested we stopped here since Wally's whining about his rumbling stomach was too much to handle anymore.

We walked in, and the cool atmosphere from the diner raised my spirits, it was so hot outside that most people were drenched in sweat, but when you were a super heroine who ran around a lot of the time delivering impressive punches and kicks, sweating while walking on a warm night was really kind of impossible at this point. Yes, even if you had a long-sleeved shirt on.

We sat down at a booth, Dick next to me with Wally across from us. My shorts rubbed against the leather of the seats, making me go slower across the booth, and feel sticky. I didn't like feeling sticky; the last time I felt like that it was because I had been sprayed with some chemical.

I didn't like talking about that mission.

We received our menus, but without looking through them, we already knew what we wanted. We had discussed on the walk here what exactly were the things that we wanted to eat (in Wally's case, wolf down).

I would be having a small burger with fries and a vanilla milkshake; Dick would have a pepperoni pizza he would share with Wally and a chocolate milkshake. Finally, Wally would be having (apart from the half pizza from Dick) one large burger with fries and would probably drink about two or three chocolate milkshakes.

Yeah, the guy could eat more than his brain could function. It was sad, really.

All right, so Wally was actually really smart and a pretty considerate person when he wanted to be one, but he could act like such a weirdo sometimes! Don't get me wrong, I love him, but he should tone it down with his impulsive urges, especially now since he's a…you know…hormonal teenager.

We ordered our serving, Wally adding a large ice cream to top it all off. I didn't know if to laugh or gag at him, this happened a lot. I was used to feeling conflicted emotions about his appetite.

"So, billionaire playboy junior, you got enough money to support Wally's hunger?" I inquired, placing my arm around the headset of the booth.

Dick reached into his pocket, pulling out at least two thousand dollars, "No worries, D, we're all good."

We started the conversation by talking about American football and baseball, discussing how the Yankees were awesome and how the San Francisco Giants should win, but we didn't really want them to. Then, I have no idea how, but we got into political issues, and then flowers like roses and violets.

We then went on talking about poems and books, and finally we topped it all off with how life would be living in space, maybe in Mars or Krypton. Then, I couldn't help it, I let out the loudest snort I've ever heard come from my mouth.

Dick and Wally looked at me, catching on, and started cackling and laughing too.

Sometimes, this would happen. We would be in our civilian outfits while simply conversing until we got into topics that were so far away from our original subject that we would burst out laughing at how random we could get sometimes.

Yeah, we were an odd bunch.

"Okay, talking about space and all that, what do you guys think about M'Gann?" I asked, breaking a long silence that followed after our grins slipped off our faces.

"I like her, she's hot!" Wally smiled

"Wally, you can't just like someone because of their appearance." Dick scowled.

"Yeah, I know that, but—"

"Okay, Casanova. What about you?" I gestured for Dick to answer. "She's nice, and she's trying hard to fit in the team. If her powers are anywhere near Martian Manhunter's, then we've got ourselves a great addition to the group. Besides, she _is _kind of cute for a Martian."

"Dude, you just told me I couldn't say that M'Gann was hot, and that's what you did!" Wally exclaimed.

"I said you can't like someone just because of their appearance, I didn't say you couldn't say she was attractive!"

"Well, Dick, you're two years younger than her in Earth years. I think she likes Superboy, too." I quirked my eyebrow at him. "She's off-limits, so, in your face!"

Dick smirked, what was he so happy about all of sudden?

"Anyway, I'm still starving and the food hasn't—Oh! Never mind, here it is!" Wally grinned so widely I was afraid his face would burst. He started swallowing most of his first slice of pizza in one bite.

I still didn't know if I should be disgusted or amused.

Suddenly, the waitress turned on the television to a newscast. It was showcasing the Justice League fighting the Time Manipulator. Can you guess what his powers are? His name is a clue!

I know, very creative, but hey, he wasn't a very smart guy when it came to giving names. He named _me _after the super heroine who kept kicking his butt, after all.

I sighed, turning away from the scene. I didn't feel so hungry anymore.

"Isn't that your…" Wally trailed off softly.

I just nodded, what else could I do? I wasn't exactly proud to be related to him, and even though I was ashamed of my father, I wasn't going to hide that part of me. At least, not from my two oldest friends. I couldn't even if I wanted to, Dinah had told Bruce about my heritage. Bruce had told Dick, and Dick, being an innocent ten-year-old without any conciousness of what it could do to me, told Wally.

I could feel my heart aching at what the newscaster kept saying, '_the villain, Time Manipulator, tried to rob a very prestigious bank in Washington D.C. The Justice League defeated him, and local sources said he was sent to a hospital after a failure in his powers resulting to the breakdown of his body. People are starting to wonder, is the archenemy of the heroes getting too old for these games?'_

"I would suppose he is, I mean, he's going to turn seventy-two in…well, a two months." I muttered, rubbing my eyes in fatigue.

"Wow, he doesn't look a day over forty!" Wally tried to lighten the spirits. I appreciated his help, so I gave him the slightest of smiles.

"Hey, brighten up, tonight was supposed to be fun for the three of us!" Dick nudged my side with his shoulder.

"I'm tired, though, could we go back home after dinner?" I said, yawning for a good measure, I just wanted to go and stay hidden in the covers of my bed.

Dick and Wally looked at each other worriedly. I rolled my eyes, "You guys are always telling me to stop worrying about you two. You should take your own advice."

Dick looked at me and cackled, "No matter in what mood you're in. You just _can't_ resist using our own words against us, can you?" I shook my head, smiling.

I loved how he could just find the right things to say at the right time. It was moments like this that I got reminded as to why I was such a good friend of his. I couldn't help it; I hugged him, yawning again.

"Hey, don't I get some love, too?" Wally crossed his arms, huffing and crinkling his nose.

"Come here, Wallman!" I laughed as he came over to us, joining in the group hug.

This hadn't turned out exactly how I planned, but it was good, nevertheless. I liked being with my two best friends, acting like complete goofs in front of a crowd. Not caring what anyone else thought about the weird bunch of teenagers.

"Sweethearts, here's you bill." The waitress came over to us, a smile of her own placed on her lips. "You are just adorable."

"Yeah, she makes the group adorable." Wally pointed at me, "I make it hot."

"Hey, Wally, I think you got it all confused. You add in the stupid flirting with girls wherever you go, I am the hotness of the group!" Dick announced proudly, puffing out his chest.

"Nah, Dick. You're thirteen, you can't be hot yet."

"Says who?"

"Says the incredible fifteen year old who hit puberty and is done with it!"

"Really? 'Cause I still see some zits." I mumbled.

Everyone burst out laughing. We were disturbing the tables nearby, but at this point, I don't think anyone gave it a single thought. It was just us, having fun, breaking the rules, and being ourselves.

This was exactly what I had wanted from the start.

O0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0

"Guys, I'm going to go back now. See ya!" Wally said, after putting his costume on, and speeding off towards his home.

Dick yawned, collecting his grappling hook from the tree, and shooting it up so I could get up to my room. Much to my surprise, he came with me to my balcony before I asked, "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Can't a guy talk to his best friend before going to sleep?"

"Not when that guy lives a long way from his best friend's house!"

Dick shrugged, "Eh, I don't care."

I rolled my eyes at him. He could be so impossible to convince sometimes, he was one stubborn boy, but I guess that's what made Batman let him become Robin. He wasn't one to go down without a fight; I liked that about him, too. I saw why Bruce thought of it as an admirable trait in crime fighting.

I walked into my bedroom, the lights were off and I was happy about that. No one had come in to inspect if I was asleep or not. I wasn't grounded.

"So, why did you get so snappy when we were talking about Miss M?" Dick threw the topic out there; it was so out of nowhere that I choked on the water I had drunk from my nightstand.

I held the coughing in, trying to make as less noise as possible, so I muffled myself with my pillow. I heard Dick trying to contain his teasing cackle, when I was finished coughing up what seemed an earthquake, I decided to answer very…normally.

Or as normally as you could after your best guy friend asked you why you were mad when he was complimenting another girl.

"Okay, you caught me! I secretly like you and I got jealous!" I faked tears. "It isn't my fault you're so handsome!"

My dramatic display wasn't enough to convince Dick who had a smirk that was growing faster and faster by every given word. Oh, mother trollers.

"D, I think you were jealous!" Dick sat down on my rolling chair, moving back and forth. I had been changing into my pyjamas when he said that, and despite the fact we've seen each other in our underwear before because of quick costume changes, I wanted to cover myself up.

I let out a light chuckle, "Dick, I was not! I don't even know what you're talking about, you're just being paranoid."

"If I'm being paranoid, then you're a man. Diana, stop denying the facts! You love me!" Dick stood up, crossing his arms.

I could tell he was joking now, too. I don't think I'd ever felt so relieved in my life.

I did something outrageous next, something I'll probably regret later in the night.

I kissed Dick's cheek.

Man, I knew I'd totally regret that. I had to play along with it now, act as if I wasn't beyond embarrassed.

"Of course I love you, my prince charming! Now go, it's twelve o'clock, and this girl doesn't want to lose her glass slipper running away from you." I smiled, and he grinned back. I knew the flustered air in my room was not there anymore.

"I knew you wouldn't resist my charming personality! You gave me a kiss after all." Dick waved as he slid down from the balcony.

I stood in the middle of the room, rubbing my toes against the carpeted floor. When I was sure he couldn't hear me, I let out a sigh of relieve.


	5. Welcome to Happy Harbour

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own any character or scene that appears in Young Justice. I own the character, Diana Crane and her whole story (including parents). All associations or similarities to Diana Crane are completely coincidental I also own any of the scenes that do not occur in Young Justice.**

* * *

**Star City**

** July 17, 23:16 PDT**

I watched from afar as Speedy shot his arrows, breaking Brick's expensive suit. Brick, who was obvioulsy the leader, ordered his henchmen to open fire at Roy. This was our cue.

I jumped down from my watch post, kicking the living light out of one of the workers with a pistol. Kid Flash came in shortly after me, running through the mass of men, giving some mean punches out. Then, Robin shot his birdarangs, knocking two men unconscious. Finally, Aqualad used his water whip to lash out at the remaining three.

We watched as Brick grabbed a large piece of rock, hurtling it towards Speedy. I got my mind ready to stop time if anything bad seemed to happen. Roy shot an arrow, but this only seemed to madden the villain, and he threw the rock out. I slowed down time, running towards the rock. I grabbed my white whip out of my grey utility belt, breaking the rock in half, and making time return to normal.

"The cave is perfect. It has everything the team will need." Aqualad announced, running up to talk to Speedy.

"For covert missions, you know, spy stuff!" Robin appeared behind us.

"And wait 'till you see Superboy and Miss Martian! But I saw her first." Kid pirouetted up to meet us with help from his super speed.

I don't know if you've noticed this yet, but we were trying extra hard to convince Speedy to join us in our new team. I wasn't sure if it was going well or not, but if I knew anything about Roy, he would probably decline to save his pride.

Brick launched another piece of rock, and we all dispersed in different directions. Aqualad broke through the rock with his water sword, and Speedy notched three other arrows, throwing them at the big bad baddie.

Man, we could really use someone with that much precision and good eyesight.

Brick kneeled, facing the ground, but he laughed. "Tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job!"

I scoffed, "And a girl, too! Besides he didn't send us, we came because we fight crime, and _you are committing a crime!_"

"And I'm not with Green Arrow anymore, so his orders don't include me!" Roy snarled, launching another arrow at Brick;s chest. The arrow inflated to show us that it was a foam arrow. Brick got engulfed until we couldn't see his panicked face anymore.

"So, Speedy, you in?" Robin smirked, he seemed so sure of himself, but I knew it was just a show. He wanted Roy to believe that our team was almost as amazing as the Justice League, and that he would love joining.

Speedy just walked away, but turned around to tell us one last thing. "Pass. I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hang out with the other kids. Your junior Justice League is a _joke. _It's something to keep you busy, and _in your place." _

"I don't want to be a part of it."

Aqualad, Kid, and Robin looked at each other in shock at Speedy's harshness. I was more than a little surprised and upset about his behaviour toward us. I ran up to Roy in an almost deadly silence as he walked away from us.

"Timeless?" Robin called after me. I ignored him.

Soon, I caught up with Roy. "Listen here, _Speedy_, you don't have to join us if you don't want to. But I would appreciate it if you were less rude about it, all right? You're acting like a first class jerk, and we don't deserve that."

Roy glared at me for a good few seconds before sighing, "Tell Canary I said hi. Don't get run over by a bus or something on your way back home."

I guessed that was the closest of an apology that I would get.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

**Mount Justice**

** July 18, 11:16 EDT**

The computer announced our arrival at the cave.

'_Recognized: Robin B01_

_ Kid Flash B03_

_ Timeless B04' _

My Caribbean blue eyes sparkled in excitement. Wally, Dick, and I hurried into the main room, where we were supposed to get our missions. Kaldur, Superboy, and M'Gann stood in the middle of it all.

"Did you ask?" Dick grinned. I could see behind the sunglasses that his eyes held the slightest of mischievous hints in them.

"What did he say?" Wally asked shortly.

"He's coming, isn't he!" I exclaimed, almost cutting Wally off.

Kaldur nodded, "He's arriving now."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Wally announced, running off. Dick, and Kaldur quickly followed, but I stayed behind with M'Gann and Superboy.

"So, how's life at the cave been like for you guys?" I asked politely.

"Oh, it's been great! I watched Earth television, and learnt cooking! I especially love baking cakes!" M'Gann answered with so much enthusiasm it was hard for me not to break out into a smile.

"Maybe you could teach me sometime. I've been meaning to learn, but between homework and missions with Black Canary, it's almost impossible." I tried keeping the conversation going.

M'Gann and I didn't have a lot in common, I soon realised. We were both girls, and loved doing sleepovers and all that, but she was so girly and so happy-go-lucky all the time, it kind of got on my nerves. I wasn't like her. I wasn't so enthusiastic about everything, and I had seen what the real world was like. She was so naïve about everything in the crime-fighting business, she made me feel like a professional. Besides, there was the big 'you're-from-another-planet' difference.

"I would love to teach you!" M'Gann clapped her hand together. "You know, I always wanted to have a sister. Back on Mars I've got a bunch, but it's definitely not the same!"

Her words made me feel guilty for my previous thoughts. "Well, I'm honoured to have a sister from another planet." This made her laugh; it took some of the self-shame away.

A compartment opened at the end of the hallway we were walking down on, and we flowed out into the 'backyard' of Mount Justice. We saw Red Tornado riding a, well, red tornado down to where we were.

"Greetings. Is there a reason you hoped to intercept me outside the cave?" He asked in that unnerving monotone voice. I needed to get used to that, and soon, too.

"We hoped you had a mission for us." Kaldur explained.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

"Yes, of course, but it's been over a week and—" I played with my fingers before I was cut off by Red Tornado putting a hand up for me to stop.

"—You will be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply each other's company."

"This team is not a social club." Kaldur spoke with such authority it was hard not to believe a single word he said.

"No, but I am told that social interactions is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarising yourselves with the cave."

"Keep busy?" Wally huffed after Red Tornado was out of our hearing range.

"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin crossed his arms.

"Oh, I'll find out!" M'Gann whispered excitedly.

We waited for a few minutes as she kept staring at Red Tornado's retreating form.

"Ugh, I—I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine, inorganic, I cannot read his mind."

"Nice try, though! So, uh, you know what I'm thinking right now?" Wally started up his flirting.

I groaned, "There's no need for a telepath to figure what _you're_ thinking about!"

Robin snickered, and I saw Kaldur trying to hide a smile.

"Hey, Superboy and I live here, in the cave! We can play tour guides." M'Gann offered.

"Don't look at me." Superboy's eyes widened in stoic panic.

We walked in, following M'Gann as she started pointing out the rooms of the cave. "So, this will be our front door!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o00o0

"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League." Wally said not so modestly, mainly to M'Gann.

"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked as we walked into the basement of the cave.

"Their secret location was…compromised." Kaldur hesitated.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap?" Superboy questioned again.

I looked around at the faces of my three oldest friends. I felt bad for not telling Miss Martian and Superboy about the Watchtower, but what else could we do? We had already broken enough rules by going to Cadmus; we didn't want to be under house arrest again.

"If villains know about the cave, we must be on constant alert!" M'Gann realised.

Dick took her hand; "The bad guys know we know they know about the place, so they'd never think to look here!"

I let out a laugh, "You are _so _skilled at wording your sentences!" Dick smirked brightly at me.

Wally detached their hands, I was sure he knew as well as I did that Robin and Miss Martian would never happen, Dick had told us she wasn't really his type after our night out, but he still didn't want to let the chances be there. "He means we're hiding in plain sight."

"Ah, that's much clearer…" M'Gann scratched her head.

Superboy sniffed the air, "I smell smoke."

Suddenly, alarming us all, M'Gann gasped in desperation. "My cookies!"

All the boys looked at each other in confusion as to why it was such a big deal, so I turned to them. "If a girl's bakery burns, especially if that girl loves baking like M'Gann, then you better not make that face in front of her. She'll smack you, and _hard_."

That made them look at each other with eyebrows raised, but chose not to question me. We all ran after her.

We filed into the kitchen as M'Gann took out a batch of charcoal spots.

"I bet they would have tasted great! He doesn't seem to mind." Dick said, gesturing to Wally as he ate the cookies.

I took one, just out of curiosity, and tasted it. I let out a low hum, "Did the recipe say you had to burn them? This is better than I imagined it to be!"

"I'm glad you liked them then. I can make more!" M'Gann smiled at Wally and I as we ate the goods she tried making.

"It was sweet of you to make any." Kaldur said.

"Thanks, Aqualad!" M'Gann grinned graciously, making me feel like I wasn't a very proper lady, eating cookies that were burnt to a crisp.

"We're off duty, call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally, see I already trust you with my secret ID. Unlike mister dark glasses over here." Wally smirked. "Batman's forbidden the Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

Dick crossed his arms, "Not everyone. You know, and she knows." He pointed at me.

"Mm, I feel special." I teased.

"You should, if Batman trusts you enough to tell you his baby's real name, that's a big compliment." Wally said, half-serious and half-joking. Did he realise that it meant the same for him? I think he just complimented himself.

I ignored his comment. "Black Canary encourages me to confide on people with my secret identity, so you all know I'm Diana Crane."

"And my name is no secret! It's M'Gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now!" M'Gann finished giddily.

I saw Superboy walking out of the room. "Ugh, get out of my head!"

_'What's wrong? I don't understand?' _I heard M'Gann's voice echo inside my mind. _'Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.'_

I saw everyone else holding their heads in pain, but I just felt a light throbbing. It was probably the time manipulation that made me feel a slight sense of pain; I got migraines all the time.

"M'Gann, stop!" Kaldur commanded. "Things are different on Earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

M'Gann suddenly turned pale, the severity of what she did sinking in. "I—I didn't mean to—"

"_Just stay out!" _Superboy growled before stalking out of the room.

"Hello, Megan! I know what we can do!" M'Gann exclaimed before flying off, the guys shrugged, following her out.

I stayed behind, looking at Superboy who took a seat in the living room. I know he didn't like being reminded of Cadmus, and he had it pretty hard already. Superman didn't really want him, the only home that he ever knew was destroyed, and he didn't have a name. Not like the rest of us did.

I sat across from him, touching his knee softly. "It's alright, Superboy. I kind of understand part of how you feel. The only family you ever knew isn't here anymore, and they weren't even the best to you, but you've got to understand one thing. Shouting only makes it worse. You can't stoop down to Desmond's level."

I stood up, "You should apologise, and so should she. I think it would be better if you called it a truce first, though." I smiled as he nodded in gratitude for my advice.

"Thank you, Diana."

As I went to find out where the rest of the team had run off to, I noticed Dick standing on the shadows of the hallway. "You and Superboy seem to be getting off pretty well, huh?"

I sighed, "You could say that."

"You seem like the only person to know what to say to make him understand, or, the _only_ person he wants to understand." He glared at me.

I let out a laugh. "The only reason that I get through him is because I know what he feels like, at least to a certain extend. We are not so different, concerning family issues. So stop giving me the evil eye. "

I saw Superboy coming out from the living room, eying our conversation. "Let's go." He said, his stoic expression on again.

We got on an elevator, and went down to the basement again. "It's my Martian Bioship!" M'Gann proudly announced. I looked at the guys; _there is only a red and blue blob there. _

"Cute, not aerodynamic, but cute." Wally hesitated.

"It's in rest, silly!" M'Gann said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'll wake it."

Suddenly, the blob became a huge red ship. It reminded of me of the one from Lilo & Stich.

We piled in like a swarm of flies hypnotised by a light. "Just strap in for launch."

Dick, Wally, and I looked at each other, grinning in excitement. I took the seat in front of Dick, and my eyes widened in surprise when the seat belt materialised in front of me. "Nice, but a fair warning next time that something of yours magically straps me onto something else?" I joked.

M'Gann apologised quickly before announcing in the speaker, "Red Tornado, please open the bay doors."

"This is amazing!" I grinned as the bioship blasted into the air, giving us a great view of Happy Harbor.

"She sure is." Wally sighed contentedly. "I mean the ship! Which of course is a she, like any other ship."

Dick and I snickered behind our hands. "Fast with his speed, not so much with his mouth."

"Dude!"

We looked at Kaldur who was giving Superboy advice on what to do, and like me; I could see Kaldur had gotten through his tough exterior.

"He'll come around." Dick assured M'Gann.

"He doesn't seem to like me much." She whispered to us.

"He doesn't seem to like anyone too much." I smiled. "But like everyone, if they have to spend a lot of time with you, they'll eventually warm up."

"You guys remember he has _super hearing_, right?" Wally smirked, pointing at Superboy who remained almost too silent.

"Whoops," I began.

"Our mouths slipped." Dick finished with a question. "Hey, how about showing us a bit of Martian shape-shifting?"

This put M'Gann on a lighter, much bouncier mood. She got out of her seat, and changed into Robin. Every exact detail from the suit to the hair was the same; except for the fact that her chest was larger and we could totally tell it was a girl.

She then changed into me using my Timeless costume. She even added the little grey pin I placed on the back of my head to pull back my hair so it wouldn't get in my eyes while fighting. I didn't like putting my hair up in a ponytail, so that was the next best option.

Then, she changed to Kid Flash. "Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally smiled dreamily. Oh, goodness, he had it really bad.

"Impressive!" Dick clapped. "But you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those, right? Well, maybe with Diana, but she looks a bit too old."

"My powers are nowhere near my uncle's, so I haven't perfected the technique. Not yet, at least." M'Gann answered.

'_Red Tornado to Miss Martian,' _the speaker in the bioship resounded through the small space, _'an emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I'm sending coordinates.' _

"Received. Adjusting course." M'Gann called back to the speaker.

Dick scoffed, "Tornado is keeping us busy again."

"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy." M'Gann answered. "We should find out what caused the alert."

I whirled around to see a small tornado whirring toward us. M'Gann tried steering away from it, but we were soon caught in the middle of it. I started wheezing, feeling lightheaded. I was so caught up in my panic that I didn't notice I had fast-forwarded time so we had gotten out of the tornado in a few seconds.

I felt like throwing up. It may have been a lot shorter the time that it took us to get out, but we still had to do the same manoeuvring, and faster.

"Diana, are you alright? You look a little green." M'Gann questioned me while steering the ship toward the source of the tornado.

Dick touched my upper arm, silently asking me the same thing. I swallowed hard, "Just peachy."

We got out of the bioship to be met by a lot of people running around, screaming.

"Robin, are tornados common in New England?" Kaldur asked worriedly. "Robin?" What a surprise, Dick was nowhere to be seen.

We could hear a cackle echoing all around us. We should put a bell on him.

"He was just here!" M'Gann exclaimed.

"Better get used to that, sweetheart." I rolled my eyes. "He does that a lot."

We could see explosions resounding through the warehouse. It was probably Robin's birdarangs. We ran to the inside of the building to be met by a red android blowing powerful gusts of air in Dick's direction. He slid down on the floor with a pained grunt.

I swivelled around the tornados the villain was making to get to Dick. He was still on the ground, and he didn't seem to want to get up. I grabbed his arms, pulling him to his feet. "If you're alive, then you're alright."

He nodded, and we marched to where the fight was going on.

"Who's your new friend?" I asked him.

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough!" Robin deadpanned back.

The villain stopped sending gusts of wind. "My apologies. You may address me as Mr. Twister." His voice was so deep and, well, he reminded me of some of the worst villains I'd faced yet.

Superboy ran toward Mr. Twister, hoping to kick him senseless, of course that didn't work. Taking the air by sheer force would not work; you had to manoeuvre around it.

I ran around the gusts of air, slowing down time at certain key moments when I was sure I would get hit. I got close enough to Mr. Twister to use my whip. I had gotten my whip, laser, and security-breaching bugs from the cave, just in case.

I stopped time, lashing out at Mr. Twister and breaking off the top of his head, it was going to weaken him enough so that the rest of the team could punch him to a pulp. I knew Superboy would enjoy that.

Wally ran ahead, but even though Mr. Twister's tornados were weakened, he slapped the speedster away from him. Then, came M'Gann and Kaldur who lashed out, again with force, at Mr. Twister, but he used his fists to pummel them both to a pillar.

I ran over to them, making sure that they hadn't been severely hurt. They both gave me nods, signals that they were all right. I smiled in relieve.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero! I was not, however, expecting children." Mr. Twister gloated.

I scowled at him, happy that Dick had taken out his birdarangs and shot them at the android. "We're not children!"

"Objectively, you are." Mr. Twister said, flicking away the birdarangs before they went off.

I walked over to him, a hand of my hip. "Mr. Twister, might I remind you who trained us? We might be much younger than our mentors, but we can kick butt the same way as they do!" I took out my laser, pointing it at his torso, but he deflected it with his metal body. It was laser proof?

"You poor little heroes. Haven't you heard about supervision? I find your presence here quite…disturbing." Mr. Twister spoke.

"Well, we'd hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more _turbed _once we kick your can!" Dick snarled.

I raised my eyebrow at him, _turbed? Really?_

He shrugged; _it was the only thing I could think of._

We lashed out at Mr. Twister, but in the end he simply hit us with each other. "Indeed, that was quite turbing. Thank you."

I growled in frustration, he had gotten away! Then I remembered something important, where was Wally? I gasped, running out of the warehouse, the team behind me.

"I got you, Wally!" M'Gann announced.

"Uh, thanks!" Wally hesitated. I could see why, it must have felt weird for someone to be levitating you just before you fell down on the floor. I grabbed him by the arm to ensure that he was balanced.

"I would have thought that you all would have learned your limitations by now!" Mr. Twister glowered.

"_What do you want?_" Kaldur shouted.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero." Mr. Twister gloated.

"Read his mind! Find a weakness!" Kaldur commanded to M'Gann.

"Nothing, I'm getting nothing!" M'Gann hit her head in realisation. "Hello, Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise!"

That would have made sense. It would definitely explain as to why he could make tornadoes, and as to why he was a machine, but I had the uneasy feeling that she was wrong. It didn't add up completely, not yet.

"He's inorganic, an android! How many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?" M'Gann finished her explanation.

"Red Tornado sent us here!" Kaldur exclaimed.

"After saying we would be tested soon enough, _this _is his test! Something to keep us busy!" Robin raised his arms in exasperation.

"Guys, you're all letting your anger cloud your judgment! Maybe he _isn't _Red Tornado! It just doesn't add up, Robin you know it too." I tried reasoning with them.

Before Dick could answer back, Wally interrupted. "Timeless, Speedy was right. Don't try to say that he wasn't. We're a joke."

Kaldur punched his fist with his other hand. "This game is over!"

Dick turned to me, "I agree with KF." He looked up to Mr. Twister who was floating in the sky. "We know who you are and what you want!"

"So let's end this!" Aqualad finished.

"Consider it ended." The android summoned a storm of tornadoes. They weren't red, and Red Tornado could only formulate red tornadoes. It was even in his name!

Lighting flashed, and thunder rumbled all around us. "Uh, can Red Tornado do that?" Wally said, uncertain of his own claim now.

"You think I'm Tornado?" Mr. Twister asked incredulously. "How ironic."

Lighting touched the land a few meters from where we were standing; causing an explosion that sent us all hurtling back. The next thing I knew, Mr. Twister was flying away from us, and I had a throbbing headache.

"Mm, still believe he is Red Tornado?" I asked, clutching my head.

Dick cackled quietly next to me, "You just got knocked out and the first thing you do is say a come back to what we previously thought? You and your pride, I swear."

I managed a weak smile, "Hey, what about you and your made up words? Now it's not just whelmed, but turbed, too." He grinned back.

Superboy punched a nearby rock. "You tricked us into believing that he was Red Tornado!"

"She didn't do it on purpose!" Aqualad defended M'Gann.

"It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened" Robin reasoned as we both got up, walking to where the arguing was going on.

"You are pretty inexperienced." Wally admitted to M'Gann.

"M'Gann, I think it's better if you sit this one out." I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to be gentle.

"Stay out of our way!" Superboy growled, walking off. Dick and Wally ran after him.

"I was just trying to be…part of the team." M'Gann muttered, hanging her head down in shame.

"To be honest, I'm not sure we really have a team." Kaldur said before running off with the rest of the guys.

"M'Gann, I know that you're the newest addition to our little unorganized group, so it's harder for you. The guys barely know you, _I _barely know you, but you have to remember that boys will be boys. Sometimes, they're harsher than they originally intended to be. Especially, Superboy, I think he has anger issues." I meant the last part as a joke, but it didn't cheer her up.

"I'll just get into the bioship, you go ahead." M'Gann ended our conversation there.

I sighed in defeat, running in the opposite direction of where she stood.

When we arrived at the Fisherman's Wharf of Happy Harbour, the whole place was in chaos. There were boats being crushed by the air force from the tornadoes, civilians running in panic, and cars honking loudly. It made my throbbing head worse.

Wally ran ahead, making a snarky remark, before hitting Mr. Twister with his legs, and sending the android back a meter.

"You are a distraction I can no longer tolerate!" Mr. Twister shouted, he was about to hit Wally, but Superboy jumped up into the air, trying to hit him in the face. Mr. Twister simply swivelled around him, moving back a couple more meters.

I ran, taking out my whip, and trying to lash out at Mr. Twister. I tried five times, but only once was I successful, and even though I hit the target, he didn't weaken one bit.

Robin and Aqualad jumped out from the roof of a building, and Kaldur got pummelled into another construction. That must have hurt him; the house he landed on was made out of wood, he was sure to get splinters.

Robin threw four explosives at the tornadoes, trying to make them disintegrate, but it didn't work. Then, Superboy tried, once again, to use strength to hit the android, but that didn't work either. Mr. Twister simply slid out of the way, levitating himself a meter from the earth.

I must admit I was starting to get pretty desperate.

While Mr. Twister was occupied sending a boat into the air, I jumped up, landing on his back and used my whip to scratch the metal on his legs. It didn't work either, I simply got sent back a couple of feet, and since slowing down time didn't work for me, too, (it was an advanced technique only my father knew) I could only hope I didn't turn out unconscious.

It worked, I didn't black out.

I ran around Mr. Twister as Kaldur threw the motor from a coat to his direction.

"Dude, you brought your utility belt?" Wally asked, rolling his eyes.

"First thing Batman taught me!" Dick answered back.

"One of the first things Batman taught _me_, bring your weapons, even if there is not utility belt." I smirked.

Yes, Batman had taught me some things when I was nine. When I found out Dinah and Ollie were Black Canary and Green Arrow, they figured that they would let the best in the business train me. Besides, he was already training another nine year old, so why not add me to the mix? Of course, I got less training time than Dick, but I still found out how to give some mean punches.

"Yeah, those lessons came right after never go to the bathroom without a weapon." Wally muttered before M'Gann's voice echoed in our heads.

'_Listen to me. All of you.' _

"What did we tell you?" Superboy growled.

'_I know! And I know I messed up, but now I'm very clear on what we need to do.' _M'Gann assured us. Well, it was hard to disagree with her when she sounded so convinced. _'Please, trust me.' _

'_What do you want us to do, Commander?' _I spoke back to her telepathically.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

I looked up as Red Tornado landed on the ground in front of us.

"Hit the showers, everyone. I was hoping you could handle this, clearly you cannot." Red Tornado turned to us, and I tried to look as disappointed in myself as possible.

"But we've got a plan now, we can make it work!" I tried convincing him.

"The subject is not up for debate!" Red Tornado exclaimed, as much as an android could with their monotone voices. We all walked away, hanging our heads in shame.

As Mr. Twister and Red Tornado engaged in battle, I couldn't help but smirk. It was definitely cool to see two different tornado creating androids battle each other, but one question lingered in my mind. Had Mr. Twister really not noticed the difference, yet?

As Red Tornado fell down on the ground, in a coma state, Mr. Twister tried recreating his subconscious. Yeah, like hell that was going to end well for him.

As Red Tornado's face transformed into M'Gann's I couldn't help but let out a joyful whoop. When we all engaged into close combat, I couldn't have been happier about finally getting the upper hand.

Kid created a small tornado that made Mr. Twister lunge back into Superboy's fist. Before Superboy could fully break Mr. Twister, I stopped time, using my whip to break his arms off. I returned time back to normal, Superboy looked at me, surprised. I just shrugged, sporting a signature goofy grin.

"What can I say? My powers can really come in handy!" My grin got a lot wider.

Superboy smirked, punching Mr. Twister into the water where Aqualad would surely get his revenge for being pummelled into the wooden house. An explosion resounded through the harbour, and Mr. Twister appeared from the water, and plunged onto the park we were standing on. To top it all off, M'Gann snapped off his legs, and Robin jumped up, throwing birdarangs at the remaining body of the android. Mr. Twister soon went, _ka-boom!_

Man, I loved that sound.

Mr. Twister's remains fell down on the ground. The body of the android opened up to reveal a man, with bags under his eyes, falling down on the floor.

_What the…?_

"Foul. I—I call foul!" The man slurred, picking himself up.

We all marched toward him. M'Gann levitated a rock, and placed it on top of the man. My eyes widened in shock, she couldn't possibly be thinking to…

"M'gann, no!" Kaldur shouted.

It was too late; M'Gann had crushed the man under the rock. I lay in shocked silence before my vocal cords worked again. "What in the world was that, M'Gann? We're on Earth now, and here _we don't kill our captives_!"

M'Gann simply turned back to the rock, "You said you trust me." She smirked as she levitated the rock away from the body, revealing a humanoid.

I lightly smacked my forehead with my hand. I was such an idiot.

"That's why I couldn't read his mind!" M'Gann smiled in satisfaction. Wally picked up the eyeball from the humanoid. "Cool! Souvenir. "

"We should have had more faith on you." Kaldur admitted.

"Yeah, you rocked this mission! Get it? Rocked?" Wally joked.

I couldn't help but laugh at him. I was a sucker for those types of jokes. I couldn't fire out why they were so funny to me, but everyone just looked at me in confusion when they heard those lame jokes.

"What is up with you being so turbed about those jokes?" Dick furrowed his eyebrows cutely.

I slapped myself mentally. Not the time to have those thoughts, Diana! "What is up with you being so turbed about your made up words?"

He shrugged, and I looked at him like, _yeah, I shrug at your stupid questions, too! _

"Let's just go back to the cave." Superboy said before going off, all of us in tow.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

** Mount Justice**

** July 18, 19:39 PST**

"It was clearly made to sabotage you." Kaldur spoke to Red Tornado about Mr. Twister and our new findings about the mission.

It was currently nighttime here at Mount Justice, and could I just say, I was tired out. Time manipulation still drained a lot of my energy and that was because I was a premature time controller. Hey, I didn't have anyone around to teach me anything about my powers anymore!

"Agreed." Red Tornado announced.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" M'Gann asked.

"No, this was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me."

"But...if you're in danger—" I started.

"—Consider this mission matter closed." Red Tornado said before leaving the room.

"Wow, our den mother is _really _emotionally open. Just great." I deadpanned, turning to the guys who were studying the humanoid's remainders.

"Well, Batman, Aqualad, and Flash _would _have jumped right in to fix things." Wally reasoned with me.

"Guess if we're going to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is what we need." Dick pointed at Red Tornado's retreating form.

"Dude, harsh!" Wally whispered back.

"And inaccurate. You may be right, Timeless, I am not very open, but I do have a heart. One made out of carbon steel alloy." Red Tornado said before leaving us completely. "I also have excellent hearing."

Dick chuckled as I tusked at him. "Right. Sorry. I'll strive to be more accurate."

"And more respectful." Kaldur pitched in. I smirked at Dick as he shamelessly smiled back at me.

"Speedy was so wrong," Wally started.

"This team thing," Dick continued.

"That we created here," I smiled.

"Might just work out." Kaldur finished for the rest of us.

I laughed out loud as we walked away from the mission room. I looked at the guys, "Race you all to the zeta beams!"

"You're on, Diana!" Wally smirked before placing his goggles over his eyes and speeding off.

"Hey, KF, that's so not whelming!" Dick shouted, trying to catch up.

Kaldur and I looked at each other, nodding in unison, getting ready to run behind them.

* * *

**Seriously guys, you must tell me what you think of this story! I've gotten 12 reviews out of the 452 people that have come to read this story. _So not whelming! _**

**Now, I'm not going to force you to review, but a little feedback on how I did would be nice every once in a while, you know? I mean, it literally brightens up my day knowing that I got 1 new review, so please comment. **


	6. Drop-Zone

** Caribbean Sea**

** June 22, 20:08 ECT**

"I haven't been around the Caribbean Sea in so long…" I muttered to myself as we flew over the vast stretch of water. The bioship had become our own personal transporter for missions.

"You feel fine? No, 'I want to burst out crying' or 'I'm going to punch someone in the face' feelings?" Kid whispered back at me, joking, but still he was worried. He was an open book, I could always tell.

"Don't worry. I just missed being around here." I answered, giving him a small assuring smile.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca." M'Gann announced as a small island could be seen in the horizon, quickly becoming larger and wider as we neared it. This might not be a very safe place, and we might be on a mission, but the island was pretty great. It could be considered a tropical paradise.

Our newest, and most official, mission was given to us a few hours back. Batman had said that Santa Prisca was the primary source of an illegal and dangerous steroid. It was a strength-enhancing drug, and it was fabricated in one of the factories in the island. Apparently the factories were still creating the drug, but all the shipments have been cut off without explanation. Batman wanted us to covertly, enhance on the _covert_, go to Santa Prisca and obtain information.

Easy enough, right?

"Drop-zone A. Ready." M'Gann said, breaking my thoughts off.

Aqualad got out of his seat, pressing a button in his belt that made his costume all black and dark grey. It was stealth mode, and could I just say, we all looked rather good in it. I liked my costume when it was on stealth mode, the grey in my suit transformed into obsidian black and the white, bullet proof material, to dark grey, even my mask!

The bioship descended, almost touching the water, and Aqualad jumped out. All he had to do was to take out the heat and motion sensor so we could pass into the island without being seen. I told you, easy enough.

"Drop-zone B." M'Gann said, alerting us of the fact that this was our stop.

Kid pressed the lighting bolt in his costume, changing it all to black, and M'Gann shifted her white shirt and blue skirt to a black body suit. Superboy and Robin stayed the same.

"Now you can put your stealth talents to use, Wonder Boy." I smirked at Robin who was silently gloating the fact that he didn't need to change even if the back of his cape was a bright yellow.

"And you can pull your 'I'll stop time and go away before you see me' stunt. I always liked that one. " He answered back.

"Hey, Supey. It's not too late to pull out the stealth tech." Kid teased.

"No capes. No tights. No offense." Superboy crossed his arms.

"It totally works for you." Miss Martian smiled. "In that you can totally do good work with those clothes!"

Oh, I knew M'gann had a crush on Superboy. I could see why too, the boy, anger issues or not, was pretty good-looking for his age. They both seemed like they would balance each other out. M'Gann with her happy-go-lucky attitude, and Superboy with his more...serious tone.

Soon enough, we had all jumped out of the invisible bioship and landed with soft thuds on the muddy ground below us. Superboy, well, he created a crater on the ground so you can guess how quiet _he _was.

We all ran, in a hurry to get to the factory, through the rainforest. Honestly, I could totally use one of those short uniforms like Wonder Woman's. It was so hot out!

We walked behind a waterfall, the cool spray cooling me down, trying to take the most unnoticeable route to our destination. Aqualad had said through comms that he would meet us at the targeted location.

"Hmm, this is _so _romantic, a walk behind a waterfall in the moonlight." I whispered sarcastically.

Robin turned to me, "Our first date is going great, don't you think? I chose the place pretty well. "

I smirked, "Oh, yes, definitely. Where are you gonna take me for our second date?"

"Probably to a jail interrogation room, and get information from worldwide targeted villains, it'll be fun." He teased.

"Hey, guys? Sorry to break your moment, but we're on a mission and I don't want to have to deal with this." Kid groaned silently.

"Whoops." I deadpanned back.

Superboy stopped behind us, shushing us, "Did you hear that?"

We all shook our heads, but of course, he had super hearing. We would not be able to listen in to what he could hear; it might as well have been a mile away.

"No, wait is this a super hearing thing?" Kid stupidly asked. Of course it was!

"You do have great ears." Miss Martian sighed dreamily. Goodness, she really had it bad, maybe even worse than Wally did for her.

"Okay, what do we do next?" Kid asked us, turning to where Robin had been only a few seconds ago.

I cursed under my breath, "Are you kidding me?"

"I hate it when he does that." Wally whispered back at me. He put on his red goggles, switching to infrared and informing us that there was one squad of four men, armed, on our tails.

"Two squads." Superboy announced, telling us that the second squad that was following was made up of six men, and they too, were armed. "But they'll meet each other before they find us."

Gunshots started to resound through the area, and Kaldur gave us direct orders to stay hidden, but Kid said he would go find Robin. I sighed as Wally ran off, trying to tail Dick.

I slapped my forehead as Kid slipped, tumbling down the hill we were seated on and landing in the middle of the gun war. The men stopped firing the guns, obviously surprised, but then the gunshots started again, alerting us of them targeting Kid.

"Guys, it's time for some action." I told Superboy and Miss Martian as I started running down the hill, jumping over rocks and spots in the mud that would have slowed me down too much.

Wally was diving and flipping up and down through the gunshots, but if we didn't help him then he wouldn't last much longer. As I came close enough to the squads to recognize faces, I saw that Bane was in between the chaos of it all.

I mentally rolled my eyes; of course he's here. Strength enhancing drug present!

I stopped time, weaving through people, and taking out my whip. I lashed out at the four people squad, taking them all out. When I realized that Superboy and Miss Martian were posed to go to battle, I unfroze time.

Superboy hit Bane, but Bane punched him harder in the face. I whipped Bane's back once before lunging back a meter and be back-to-back with Robin.

"Where have you been?" I snapped at him. "Hopefully doing something useful!"

Robin punched a kicked out at two men. "I _was_ doing something useful! I was following directions! What is wrong with you guys? You should have followed my lead and banished into the bushes, remember covert?"

"That's what you were doing? Way to fill us in, Rob! We're not exactly mind readers!" Wally pushed and kicked two other men, looking at M'Gann when he said the last word. "Well, I'm not, anyway."

"You told me I could only read the bag guy's minds!" M'Gann defended herself. Good point she had there.

Aqualad appeared from the trees, electrocuting one of the goons. When they were all down, we tied them up together, making sure they were unconscious.

"I recognize those uniforms, they work for the Colt of the Kobra." Robin analyzed.

"I'm certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running around Santa Prisca in this operation!" Aqualad crossed his arms.

"Agreed." Robin stated. "Hence there is no love lost between the Colt and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came and tossed them out! That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"Great going, genius. You figured it out. Now, we just have to radio Batman—" Kid started, but Dick cut him off.

"These guys aren't on Venom! Cobra is hoarding this stuff. We don't leave—Not until I know why." Robin said.

"Until _you _know why? Robin, this is not just your mission! We were _all _assigned to find out what was going on here!" I argued with him.

"This team needs a leader!" Robin shouted back.

"Oh, and you're it?" Wally snapped back. "You're a thirteen year old kid who docked out on us without a warning!"

Robin cackled, "And you're a _mature fifteen_?"

I sighed, rubbing my gloved hand over my temple, they always argued like this. I walked over to stand next to Kaldur. "You know, you're the oldest out of all of us, you would be a good leader."

Aqualad nodded. "Thank you, Timeless, but I don't know if this team would want me as their leader. Especially, Robin."

"I wouldn't mind you as our leader, and for what Miss Martian and Superboy are talking about, I know for a fact they would think the same as I do. KF, well, we don't think too differently concerning these things." I answered.

Suddenly, Bane started laughing, that couldn't be good news. "Such clever, _niños_, but you only know half the story_. _Let me show you the rest, let you into the factory, reveal the secrets."

My eyes narrowed dangerously, he was calling us _kids. _I was sick of people underestimating us. Unfortunately, that was the only thing giving us a major advantage.

M'Gann crouched. "There is a secret entrance, but he's hiding something." Suddenly, her eyes started glowing hot white. "Ugh, he's mentally reciting football, sports, and Español! This could take a while."

Bane smirked, "It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I glared at him, "_Es mejor que nos digas que quieres, Bane. Yo se que tu motivo no es ayudarnos." _Yes, I knew Spanish, and I spoke it quiet fluently. The perks of living in South America for most of my childhood.

Bane smiled evilly, "_Ah, una chica que me entienda. Bueno, lo siento por decirte esto, pero si quiero ayudar. Tu quieres que mi enemigo caiga, you quiero lo mismo, vamos a ser una aliansa por hoy, asi esta bien?"_

I clicked my tongue in thought. He had offered to make a temporary alliance for tonight, just to see our common enemy fall. "Alright, he has me convinced. He wants to make an alliance tonight, he'll help us as long as Kobra falls down."

Aqualad nodded, "Lead the way, then, Mr. Bane."

We had been walking for a while, following Bane through the jungle. I was starting to doubt my judgment, what if Bane suddenly bailed on us and decided to attack us. He was much stronger than any of us.

We soon came to a ledge in a small clearing. Bane stopped, making us follow his move. He pointed at a building a long way down from the cliff we were, and Robin got his binoculars out. When he confirmed that there was a huge amount of those drugs being produced we all greed that we had to find out who Kobra was selling his products to since they weren't the usual suspects.

Miss Martian, Superboy, and I followed Bane as he walked over to a mining tunnel blocked by a rock. Bane easily moved the rock away from the entrance. "Answers are this way."

We all piled into the tunnel. "So, now the _luchador _is our leader." Kid rolled his eyes. Robin smacked him on the shoulder and went in first, I ran after him, placing a hand on his arm to signal that we had to talk.

"Rob, I know you want to lead this team, but you have to understand, even if you are the most experienced out of all of us, you're still pretty young. Remember, it _is_ a lot of responsibility." I tried speaking softly to him, letting him know I meant well with my words.

He sighed, "Don't you think I know that?" And with those last words, he sped up his pace, leaving me behind with Wally.

I stared at his back; he knew he wasn't cut out for the job. I guess he had as much of a pride problem as everyone else; he didn't want to admit that he didn't believe that he could be the leader of us. Oh, Dick could be so prideful sometimes, and when it did happen, it wasn't good for him.

He often wouldn't admit that he had weaknesses, and that could be one of his downfalls as well as one of his strengths.

We arrived at a door that Bane opened with his fingerprints, the entrance led to the factory, I supposed. Bane and Robin looked through the cracked door, scanning the perimeter.

"All clear." Robin announced, running out of the room into the hallways.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane questioned us, and I couldn't blame him for asking, if I was him, I would have done so, too.

"No, you see, he's an expert at disappearing." I answered in a monotone voice.

Wally put his goggles on, "Stay put, I'll get the intel before the Boy Wonder!" And with that final notice, he sped off.

I growled deep in my throat, "We'll see about that. Those two are going to get each other killed with their contests!"

I could hear Kaldur complain to my request behind me, but I didn't care.

This would be a piece of cake, it was almost as if first place had been already secured for me.

I ran away from the group, sticking to the shadows, and weaving through the barrels. I needed to locate the data base.

Now, if I were an evil mastermind who could create strength-enhancing drugs, where would I keep my mission plans?

Where…Aha!

I smiled in triumph, stopping time so no one would see me as I ran around him or her. I just loved the fact that I could make as much noise as possible as I passed the bad guys while the Fastest Boy Alive and the Boy Wonder had to be cautious of where they stepped and what they did.

Advantage? You know it!

I reached the room at the top of the factory; it was over-looking the whole process of the mission Kobra was planning on doing. I unfroze time, roundhouse kicking the man at the computer in the face so he lay unconscious on his chair. I rolled him away from me, smirking as Robin came in shortly.

"Thank you for clearing the room, but now let the brilliant hacker do his work." He strolled over to me, winking and proceeding to clear all security from the software.

We studied the writing in the screen, and I looked at Rob. "Venom?"_  
_

"Of course."

"Whoops, interrupted your date." Wally sped into the room. "What'd you guys got?"

"Chemical formulas, we're guessing it involves venom, but—" I stopped talking.

"This one is venom," Wally pointed out. Leave it to our science genius to know everything we needed about chemical formulas, "And that one is…Whoa. That's the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus. If mixed correctly Kobra's new juice could be three times stronger than Venom, and permanent."

"Well, what are the odds of these two working together…" I trailed off as realization dawned upon me. "Our mystery buyer is also Kobra's supplier!"

"Using the Colt to create a super venom formula." Robin finished. "Robin to Aqualad…" I could hear a crackling noise from his comm unit.

"Static." I stated. "We better go."

Robin nodded, "Just let me download the files…"

I sighed, "Fine. By the way, where did you get the chocolate bar, Kid?"

Wally's eyes widened. "Uh, this? It was dropped off on one of the rooms. I'm not giving you any, by the way."

I glared at him, and stopped time. I took a large bite from his chocolate, and returned time back to normal for Kid to see me chewing his food in my mouth. "Really, Timeless? That's low!"

"Done. Let's move." Robin announced, running out of the room before we could reply.

Kid and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and hurried out after the Boy Wonder.

I could hear gunshots going off, and I had to wonder, what was really going on out there?

Bane might as well have given off our cover. I really doubt Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian willingly let themselves be seen.

The guys and I reached a metal bridge between the solid floor on the right side and the left side; we could see the fighting going on from there. Sportsmaster and Kobra were fighting off our team, and they were winning. Bane, as I thought, wasn't anywhere in sight.

Kid ran away, going down the staircase at the speed of sound, and even faster. Robin and I looked at each other before smirking, and running off to perform our stunts.

'_Everyone online?'_ I heard M'Gann's voice ring through my head.

'_Yeah…'_ Superboy begrudgingly said.

'_You know it, beautiful.' _Wally flirted.

'_Good, we need to recruit.' _Kaldur commanded.

'_We're a bit busy.' _Robin and I said in unison.

We jumped out from the ceiling of the factory, landing on the soil beneath us, and right in front of Cobra. "The heroes must be desperate, if they send little children to defeat me."

"What's wrong, Kobi? You look…disconcerted." Robin teased.

"Afraid we're tougher than we seem?" I tried acting smug, even though I knew we could totally get out butts whipped by Kobra.

"This is beneath me. Shimmer, take them." Kobra spoke to the extremely skinny woman standing next to him.

Shimmer ran toward us, and we jumped to different directions, smirking at her. She lunged for me, and I stopped time, moving out of her reach, and when I unfroze it, she looked disoriented at my stunt.

She gave up on me, knowing that I was too much of a match for her, and instead ran toward Robin, who jumped out of her grab. His smirk got bigger as he got into a fighting stance right in front of her, daring her to try and fight him.

He could handle Shimmer by himself. We needed to stop Kobra.

'_Robin, Timeless…Come here now!' _Aqualad shouted at us telepathically.

Robin and I looked at each other, nodding in begrudging agreement. He threw a smoke pellet down, and we disappeared with his grappling hook. We ran down from the top of the factory, down to the main entrance, moving in when we saw that Aqualad wanted us to retreat.

Kid cleared a path for us to run down on, and escape. We went into the same door that Bane led us through, and Superboy slammed locked the door behind us.

We kept hurrying out when we heard a growl from Kobra's latest masterpiece, a big dude who had obviously been injected with the super venom. There were gunshots coming closer and closer, too. Superboy knocked down the support beams, buying us some time to run out of the tunnel and take a rest on our side of the wooden mess.

Kaldur lit a red beam, letting us see through the darkness of the tunnel. I shivered, we might be in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, but down here, it was impossibly cold. Wally sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around me, and M'Gann did the same on my other side.

I smiled at them both in gratitude, what would I do without those two redheads?

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin pondered.

Oh, so he thought that _he _was the leader? He kept leaving us without a warning, for goodness sake! That boy could have some of the stupidest thoughts in his head, sometimes.

"You do have the most experience," Kaldur stated, "but perhaps that's exactly what has left you unprepared. When you fight alongside Batman, your roles are defined, you do not need to talk, but this team is new. The leader must be clear, explicit, he cannot vanish and expect others to take part in an unknown plan."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands!" Robin growled. Then, he whined, low and lost, but then he said something that surprised most of us. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur. You're the only one who can."

"Please, I can run circles—" Wally stood up from his seat next to me, but I silenced him. "Common, Wally, you know he's the one."

"Hello, Megan! It's so obvious!" M'Gann exclaimed.

"Could have told ya." Superboy shrugged, showing one of those rare smiles.

It took Wally some seconds of silence before saying, "Okay."

I smiled at Kaldur, "I told you they wouldn't mind."

Aqualad walked over to Robin, placing a hand over his shoulder. "Then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon."

I could tell that was the one sentence that brought the most life into Dick's day. Dick smiled so brightly, it was contagious. We all broke out into wide grins, except Superboy, who had only a small smile plastered on.

"Well then, I'm glad we figured _that _out!" I stood up. "Now, what's the plan, Captain Kaldur?"

Kaldur nodded, "Our first priority is preventing that ship from leaving the island."

"Funny, I had the same thought." Robin teased.

I smirked, "Glad to see your old self is back, I was starting to get sick of Mr. Jerk of the Week."

Robin nudged my shoulder lightly, "Very funny, Diana."

We ran out of the tunnel to be met by Bane, and a lot of explosives ready to go off at any given time. "Halt, niños, I'm feeling…_explosive._"

"Wow, come up with that on your own, did ya?" I snapped. "_Que paso con la aliansa? Ya no sirve?" _

_ "_Sorry, _bellesa, pero no. Hubo un…cambio de planes." _Bane answered.

I groaned. "That is so typical to say from any villain, 'there's been a change of plans', how many times have I heard _that one _before? And _don't _call me beautiful unless you want to get your butt kicked."

Robin and Kid's eyes narrowed, "He called you _what?"_

Aqualad ignored us, "Why did you betray us?"

"I wanted my factory back." Bane growled. "So I forced you into a situation that you either took down my enemies or die trying."

'_Kid, get a head start.' _Aqualad said in between the telepathic link.

Bane smirked. "If the latter, the Justice League would have come to avenge their sidekicks."

Whoa, hold your horses there. Did he say _sidekicks? _I want to be the one who punches him unconscious.

"When the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside," Bane raised his hand to show a switch that would detonate the bombs, "should have the same effect."

As soon as Bane tried pressing the controller, it was out of his hand in a blur of black and red. "With what? This trigger thingy?" Wally grinned.

Bane tried lunging toward Kid, but M'Gann levitated him in the air.

"Finally! Drop him." Superboy and I smirked at each other as I got out my whip. I was going to enjoy _this. _

I lashed out at Bane, making him cry out in pain as I gave him a second bloody mark on his back. Then, Superboy punched him in the face, sending him back a few feet.

"All right, now that we got rid of _el luchador_, we should keep moving." I said, looking at Kaldur for approval of my command.

He nodded.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o 0o0

"The helicopter's operational again." One of Kobra's followers bowed to Sportsmaster. He walked over to his transportation out of the island with the suitcase that contained the super venom before Kid surprised him by speeding in and hitting a bunch of goons where it hurt.

"Take the shipment!" Kobra commanded, making Sportsmaster get over his shock and start running toward the helicopter. Yeah, he wasn't going to get very far.

Superboy and I dropped in, him smashing the ground beneath his feet and I landing with the softest of thuds on the floor. "Are you in a hurry?" I faked innocence.

Kobra's little _pet _that had almost smashed Superboy flat before he came running toward us, but I stopped time, and lashed at him with my whip, taking him out of the equation easily.

I unfroze time, and Superboy smiled at me. "Your powers really come in handy sometimes."

I shrugged, "What can I say? It's a gift."

We departed, running in different directions to knock out as many people as possible. Kid and I had made a bet on who could take out as many goons as they could, so far, I had a fair advantage since Wally had punched about seven men, but Kobra's pet's knock out was a total of fifteen points.

I was so going to win this; I could just imagine Wally writing my science essay that was due in a week. Gosh, I loved it that he was a tiny Einstein when it came to science.

I could see Sportsmaster shooting at Superboy, while gripping Miss Martian tightly by the neck.

Kid ran in, taking the gun from Sportsmaster's hands and I used that distraction to punch him in the face, freeing M'Gann from his death grip. He had been choking her.

Suddenly, Robin appeared a few feet from me, smirking at Kobra. If I had the time, I would have so stayed and watched as Dick kicked the older man's butt, but there were still goons to punch unconscious and guns to take out of hands.

Kid and I ran as fast as we could, of course, he was quicker than me, but we kicked and punched with all our might.

"How many…did you get?" Wally panted.

"Counting Kobra's pet, twenty-five!" I got out my whip; ready to pounce on anyone who tried hurting my friends and I.

"Ah, man! I only have eighteen!" Kid ran away as soon as he said that, probably trying to win the bet that we had.

It didn't matter; he was going to lose anyway.

I stood in the middle of unconscious adult bodies as I could feel the helicopter's wings flapping wind everywhere, and shaking the hair out of my face. Sportsmaster was getting away!

I tried using my laser, but the helicopter was out of range. Then, it just suddenly exploded into flames, and I could see M'Gann's hand on a trigger as she sat next to Superboy.

Sometimes, I would think that she was a truly awesome chick.

As the helicopter was coming down, I could see Sportsmaster opening a parachute, floating away from us. The helicopter landed on the factory, bursting it, too, into a great fire.

Okay, it's official; its way too hot in this island. I wanted to get out.

Aqualad and Kid came over to me smiling in triumph.

Kaldur put a hand on both of our shoulders, "You did good work out there, but I believe that I got the most enemies, thirty-one."

Wally and I's shoulder slumped, and pouted. "Fine, then. I just want to get out of here, it's way too hot!"

"You're the one who's lived in this climate ever since you were little! I'm sweating like a pig!" Wally exclaimed, raising his arms in exasperation.

"Just because I was born around here doesn't mean that I liked the climate!" I snapped back. "Anyway, where's Rob?"

Our eyes widened, and we ran over to where he laid on the ground, Kobra stepping on him. "I am played by mosquitos!"

"Good, because this mosquito is mighty _concerted over your pain!_" Robin groaned, flipping over and out of Kobra's foot.

We stood behind him, like a unit, protecting each other, and ready to fight. There was a long silence of waiting who would make the next move, who would strike or retreat first.

"Another time…" Kobra disappeared behind the shadows of the jungle behind him.

Dick looked behind the plants, trying to find Kobra, but turned to us with a frown.

"Now you know how it feels. It ain't nice." I crossed my arms.

"Sorry." He apologized, and then looked at Kaldur. "Hey, we picked the right guy to lead…Automatically making _you _the right guy to explain this mess to Batman!" Robin cackled.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o 0

**Mount Justice**

** August 4, 01:06 EDT**

"A simple reckon mission. Observe and report." Batman scowled at our team as we stood in a line. Bruce looked at Kaldur for a long time, making him lower his gaze in shame.

We were silent as we got our lecture from the world's worst pep-talk giver, he was good at pointing out what we did wrong, though.

"You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your _many _mistakes." Batman's angry look softened just an inch. "Until then, good job."

We all looked at him in surprise, turning our heads in his direction in perfect unison. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads determines character."

I could feel a smile itching itself across my face. Well then, we didn't do so bad did we?

"You are all dismissed." Batman announced to us, leaving the room and shuting down the holographic computers.

I breathed a sigh of relieve. "Guys, we should celebrate!"

"Oh, we should go out and have dinner! I'm starving!" Wally's stomach growled, like always.

"That sounds fun. I've toured around Happy Harbour, I know a good place to eat!" M'Gann grinned at us while Superboy just shrugged.

"It would be nice to celebrate." Kaldur admitted.

"Well, let's go!" Dick told us, and we all started walking in a line, two people talking with each other, and the rest behind them.

Dick and I were in the middle. "You know, I'm proud of you, Bird Boy."

He raised his eyebrows at me, "Why?"

"I know how badly you've always wanted to lead, and sometimes you show us that you're a complete natural at it, but for you to give up that place to Kaldur…Well, that was really noble of you." I pushed him slightly to the side.

"Yeah, well, I did what was best for the team." He answered, a slightly embarrassed tone.

"And that makes you all the better." I kissed him on the cheek. Dick stood there for a moment, accidentally bumping into M'Gann and Superboy.

I could only laugh as he let out an ungraceful 'whoops' and ran to catch up to me.


	7. Schooled

**Mount Justice**

** August 3, 13: 06 EDT**

I let out a joyful laugh as I beat Kaldur at a game of ice hockey. "Diana: Five. Kaldur: Two!"

Robin and Kid Flash high fived me, we were all on our superhero uniforms, waiting our next training session with Canary. You know, having your mom, adoptive or not, train you in martial arts made you realise how awesome she really was.

_'Recognised: Superboy B05.' _The computer announced as Superboy came stomping into the cave.

"Hi, Superboy! How was Metropolis?" M'Gann asked, but he just stalked off, walking through our holographic ice hockey table.

"Well, in my opinion, it could have been much worse." I shrugged. Kid, Robin, Aqualad and Miss Martian looked at me with uneasy expressions.

"Ready for training everyone?" I whirled around to see Black Canary waking toward us.

"Uncle J'onn!" Miss Martian grinned. She ran up to hug Martian Manhunter. He smiled back, explain how he was in the neighbourhood and wanted to check up on her. He reminded me of Ollie, always trying to see how well I was adjusting to a different environment.

"Hi, mom." I gave Dinah a very brief hug, which she returned with a smile.

"Stick around, class is in session." Dinah said, looking at Superboy who tried stalking off to his room.

We all followed her into the mission room where she stood in the middle, and the circular grid on the floor started glowing white. "I consider it an honour to be your teacher, I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I've learned from my own mentors, and—" Dinah paused, cringing as she took of the jacket. "—My own bruises."

I looked at her, worry written all over my face. "What happened?"

"The job. Don't worry too much." Canary smiled assuringly. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner."

We all looked around each one of us, wondering who was going to volunteer first. "Right here, yeah!" Wally exclaimed excitedly.

"After this, I'll show you _my moves_." Wally winked at Canary, looking at me mischievously. I glared at him; I'm going to punch him in the face the next time we train together.

Dinah smirked, and I knew she was already taking charge of my wish. She moved with incredible speed, trying to sneak a punch past him that he blocked. Then she swished her leg under Wally so he fell down on his back with a pained groan. "That hurts so good!"

"Good block, but did anyone see what he did wrong?" Dinah asked us.

"Ooh, Ooh! He hit on the teacher slash his best friend's mom and got served?" Robin grinned. I nudged him with my shoulder for being so immature, but couldn't contain the chuckle that escaped my lips.

"He allowed me to dictate the terms of—"

"Oh, please." Superboy interrupted my mom from talking. "With my powers, the battle is always on my terms."

"Show us then, pretty boy." I snapped at him. I didn't like it when other people showed less than the average level of respect to Dinah. She was here to teach us things that could save our lives, and he was _complaining. _

Superboy walked toward Canary, crossing his arms in front of her. He tried to deliver a punch, but Dinah grabbed his arm and tossed him over her shoulder. Robin and I started laughing, but when Miss Martian and Aqualad nudged us, we muffled our cackles.

Superboy stood up, growling.

"You're angry, good, but don't react. Channel that anger—" Dinah was cut off once again by Superboy charging at her, but failing. He _really _needed to start listening to the teacher.

"That's it! I'm done!" Superboy snarled, getting up from the floor again.

"Training is mandatory." Black Canary reasoned before Batman's face popped into the holographic screen of the mission room.

"Batman to the Cave. Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary, the attacker was capable of studying then duplicating the powers and abilities of his opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combat."

Batman showed us a video of a man with red glowing eyes, maybe an android, attacking the Justice League without mercy.

That's why Dinah had bandaged her arm!

"In the end, it took eight Leaguers, four hours, to defeat and dismantle the android." Told you it was an android.

"An android?" Robin questioned. "Who made it? Tiomaro?"

"Good guess, Robin." Of course it was a good guess, Batman! He's your protégé! "But Red Tornado doesn't think so."

"The technology bears the signature of…" Martian Manhunter looked at Black Canary. "Professor Ivo."

Cool, that evil dude who was supposedly dead ever since four months ago? That's just wonderful.

"Ivo? But Ivo is dead." Kaldur voiced my thoughts.

Canary looked at us with a grim expression, "So we all thought." I was reminded of the fact that her upper arm was injured, I was sure to kick Ivo's old butt the next time I saw that dude. "Or hoped."

"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralised, we're sending two trucks carrying the androids parts to two separate Star Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken—"

"—And we will have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Yes! Road trip!" Kid pumped his hand in the air. I high fived him, I loved taking any kind of field trip.

"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy's voice deepened dangerously.

"You have something _better _to do?" Batman challenged him.

Superboy stood in silence. I rolled my eyes, I was so not putting up with his attitude.

"Coordinates received." Aqualad announced, taking out his GPS. "We are on our way."

Everyone ran out of the room, in a hurry to change and get their supplies for the road trip. I turned to Dinah, "Are you sure you're okay?"

She placed her good arm around my shoulders, "Of course I am, Diana, now go. The future of the world depends on you now."

She sounded so much like my birth mother.

I ran out of the room, going into the bedroom that would be mine if I lived here in the Cave. I stocked some clothes and supplies in here if they were ever needed, like today. I changed into some fitting black pants with yellow stripes running diagonally until they reached the knees. Then, I put on a black tank top since we were all going to get the same jackets for the mission.

I came out of the bedroom, meeting Dick and Kaldur in the basement. They had changed into similar clothing. Kaldur had his uniform's red shirt on, and Dick had decided to put on a white shirt.

"Looking good." Dick winked jokingly at me.

"You don't look so shabby yourself, Wonder Boy." I mused.

He smiled as the rest of the team filed in, and Black Canary gave us our jackets. I put it on, zipping it up to the very brim, and we got onto a large van that held our motorcycles in the back.

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**Litchfield County**

** August 3, 20: 08 EDT**

We had finally arrived to the place where the six trucks were parked. That had taken us longer than I expected, I had dozed off on Kaldur, and Wally's shoulders as we drove to our destination. Now, I was happy to see the staff placing the android parts in the two different trucks.

When we arrived I asked Ollie if he, too, was all right after the android attack. He said he was just fine, but quite exhausted. I couldn't blame him.

Our younger team of heroes waited on our motorcycles behind the shade of the trees as our mentors watched over the shipment. When they gave us the signal, we started up our engines and fell behind the trucks.

Dick, Superboy, and I went behind the shipment that would go to New York, and Wally, M'Gann, and Kaldur follower the trucks that drove to Boston. Our three trucks would be passing by Gotham City.

We rode on in silence before Dick turned to us, asking, "If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? You see, instead of things going wrong, they go right!"

"You know what, Rob? I'm not even going to apply logic to your thinking. You're right, aster is the opposite of disaster." I smirked.

Robin and I waited for Superboy to say something to us, too.

Superboy stayed quiet, glaring at both of us for looking at him.

"Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster!" Dick smirked. "What's wrong?"

"Canary." Superboy answered. "In what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super-strength!"

"You know super-strength isn't everything, right?" I glared at him for blatantly accusing Dinah for the cause of his anger, he was already mad when he came into the Cave! "You need to have a form, a technique, or else your powers are no use to you."

"Of course _you _would say that! You're Canary's dear daughter." Superboy snarled before speeding up his motorcycle's pace, leaving Dick and I behind.

"Well, someone's just a little ray of sunshine." I rolled my eyes.

Dick sighed, "Don't get angry at him, he just needs to cool off."

"Cool off?" I huffed. "He's had six hours to cool off ever since he tried outsmarting Dinah! I think that's plenty of time for someone of _cool off! _Why are you taking his side, anyway?"

"Common, Diana! I'm not taking any sides!" Dick pouted. "I'm just trying to calm you down."

I sighed. My anger had gotten the best of me, that happened sometimes. "I'm sorry, Dick."

Suddenly, a bunch of monkey robots erupted from the wheat field next to us, and they started attacking the truck in front of us.

_'Aqualad to Robin, Superboy, and Timeless: Our truck is under attack!' _

_'We noticed!' _Robin snapped, studying the scene in front of him.

_'We've got ourselves quite the pickle here, too.' _I said over the comms.

"I _hate _monkeys." Superboy growled, and I could not agree more with him.

When I was a little girl, about six years old, my parents took me to a really short jungle hike to see the animals living around the southern part of Colombia. I had an encounter with monkeys there that you could say left me a little…skittish when it came to primates.

The monkeys started cracking the windows of the truck and Dick cackled. "Robot monkeys! Totally Ivo's tweaked style!"

He pressed a button on his motorcycle and the back of it detached from the main body to fly up into the sky. I did the same.

"Superboy, switch your motorcycle to battle mode!" I shouted over the chattering of the robotic monkeys.

"There's no point!" Superboy snarled back. He jumped out of his ride, landing on top of the truck. His motorcycle teetered and rolled over to Dick and I, and we jumped out of the vehicles, trying to not get splatted under it.

Dick grabbed me by the waist before I could stop time and grab hold of the truck. He used his grappling hook to launch us both onto the vehicle and we kicked in unison the monkeys that were to our left and right.

I grabbed the top of the truck, flipping myself up and grabbing my whip out of my jacket. I lashed out at any robot monkey visible, breaking off their arms and heads.

Dick came in shortly after me, taking out his Escrima sticks. I'd forgotten he had those; he barely used them after all. He pushed and hit monkeys all over the place, and the robots rained down the truck like it was Christmas.

Superboy hit down hard at every monkey he saw, but the numbers soon overcame him. I tucked my whip on my utility belt and started punching the monkeys out of Superboy's face.

"I told you that a technique was important!" I exclaimed over the screeching.

Superboy only growled in annoyance. The monkey that he tried crushing in his hands shot laser out of its eyes into his own eyeballs, and Superboy went tumbling down the truck.

My eyes widened, "Superboy!"

I hit the remaining of the monkeys with such fierceness, and Dick too, that we got rid of them in double time. I saw Superboy jump toward our truck, and I couldn't help but breathe out in relieve. We didn't lose the big jerk.

Then, more monkeys came and these shot lasers at the tires, making the truck go screeching and zigzagging through the road.

I almost lost my balance twice, but by holding onto the boys for sustainability, I was able to stay standing and fighting off the monkeys. I knew that the truck would collapse sooner or later, so I took Dick's hand, we told the driver to get out, and the three of us jumped off the truck just in time before it crashed.

I held my head; I had hit it pretty hard on the jump from the vehicle to the wheat field.

"D, you're bleeding!" Dick exclaimed, scampering over to me. He took off his jacket, and ripped off a piece of his shirt to put it on my wound.

Great, did you know that a white shirt with blood just makes it look worse than it actually is?

Dick kept checking me for more injuries, but our attention was diverted to the loud explosion from the truck. The monkeys were taking out the android's remains!

"We have to go!" I sucked in a tight breath when my eyesight dimmed because of the pain. Dick nodded, and helped both the driver and I up, walking us over to the road.

Suddenly, Superboy let out a frustrated shout, jumping over to where the monkeys were flying off to with the android's parts.

"Superboy!" Robin screamed, trying to get the clone's attention before he got too far away from us.

I wrapped Dick's piece of shirt tighter around my forehead, it felt cool and I could very well sense the liquid running down from my injury.

_'Aqualad to Robin and Timeless. We've lost our cargo, did you—'_

_ 'It's gone.' _Dick sighed. _'And so is our partner!'_

_ 'Superboy, we can help you! Let us track your location—" _Kaldur started.

_'I don't need any help!' _Superboy shouted at the comms before he ditched his radio and tracking device.

We tried solving our current problem through the comms. We discussed how to track the way in which Ivo was. Dick connected his arm computer to one of the monkey robots I beheaded.

I visibly cringed. I needed another temporary bandage. Dick's shirt was soaked with my blood.

"Looks like both paths the monkeys took are converging in…" Dick's smirk was wiped off his face. "Gotham City."

"Just what we needed." I mumbled, ripping off the bottom part of my tank top and pressing it on my forehead. That was kind of better.

_'That far south? M'Gann and I won't be able to reach you in time; I'm sending Kid to meet you. Aqualad out.' _Kaldur signed off the link we had in the comms unit.

Dick grabbed the captured monkey and tossed it over his shoulder, pressing a button on his portable computer that enabled a smaller version of his motorcycle to track down Ivo. "Definitely a disaster, heavy on the dis."

I sighed, "You're telling _me_! If there's anything else inside the truck that might stop the bleeding, grab it."

Dick nodded, venturing inside the wreck. I had been so worried about getting the driver out of the truck safely that I didn't pay much attention to my own well-being.

A few minutes later Dick came out with a first aid kit from the shotgun seat. "Well, what do you know? You're one lucky girl."

I smiled, relieved at the fact that I wouldn't have to fight with an open wound. Dick took out the supplies needed for my bleeding to stop, and set his hands to work.

"Of all the years that I've known you, Wonder Boy, I never thought of you as a doctor." I mused as Dick cleaned the injury, wiping off all the blood that had trickled down as far as my cheek.

"Yeah, well, you can now call me Doctor Grayson. It has a nice ring to it." Dick joked.

The thing is that even if I didn't want to overlook the situation, I still did. I could feel Dick's shaky intakes of air, and the slight tremble in his hands whenever he touched me. I could feel the body heat radiating off of him, and I had to admit, I kind of liked it.

Dick moved over, sitting next to me, our knees touching. "That's the best I could do, Alfred would have done so much better."

I just smiled gratefully. "Considering I don't feel blood trickling down anymore, I'd say you did a pretty whelming job as a nurse, Doctor Grayson."

Dick grinned back at me; he was about to reply when Wally came running in onto our conversation. "Whoa, Diana! What happened to you?"

I waved off his question like it was nothing, "You know, the usual, fell off a truck. Hit my head with Mother Nature."

Wally raised his eyebrows, "Good bandaging skills. Who did it?"

Dick raised his hand, tracing something invisible on the pavement. "When did you become an expert, Doc?" Wally teased.

"Right before we started the Team. Someone got a knife on the leg by the Joker, and I was the only one who could help him. Batman was busy." Dick shrugged. Then, he realised something. "Hey, D, can you ride alone with a hit on the head?."

"Ooh, if there was a lot of blood, which there is." Wally gestured to the three rags that were tainted red. "Then you should probably ride with Rob, it's safer that way."

I sighed in exasperation. "I'll just be riding a motorcycle to Gotham City, it's no biggie."

"Uh, yeah it is. You could suddenly black out, you could—" I cut Dick off.

"If you want me to ride with you that badly you only have to ask." I teased him. That shut him up.

"So…" Wally dragged on.

"Fine, I'll go with Dick_, _but don't expect me to be too joyful on the way to Gotham." I glared at them.

Dick got on the motorcycle first, and I came in second, grabbing onto his shoulders.

The three of us sped off, and we spent the next hour driving around, following Dick's GPS to Gotham City. Halfway through our journey, we lost Wally, and also changed into our superhero clothes. Could I just say, I felt so much better with my suit on.

My bleeding had stopped as the wound started closing, and now we were only a few miles away from Gotham. I was still riding on Robin's motorcycle, but had decided to stop holding onto him, my arms had gotten cramped after a whole hour holding onto his shoulders.

Now, I rested my head on his back as I felt all the bumps from the road. Soon, I saw Kid running up to us, catching up.

"You changed, too!" Dick observed.

"You're kidding?" Wally mock shivered. "I feel naked in civvies!"

"I totally get the feeling." I exclaimed through the motorcycle's deep humming.

"Are you guys still tracking the parts?" Kid asked.

"They _were _heading through Gotham, but they veered." Robin paused.

I looked over his shoulder. "Dude, they're at our school!"

Dick looked at his GPS, confirming the fact that the monkeys were indeed going inside Gotham Academy. I wondered if they would destroy the two things that I adored about the school, the gymnastic equipment and the horse stables. I honestly hoped not.

"If they destroy my trophies, they are _so _dead." Robin spoke, breathing in deeply.

Yeah, Dick Grayson won a bunch of trophies these past few years in the school. He was a great mathlete, athlete, and had the looks.

Guess how well _he's _doing with the ladies!

We soon arrived at the school, and I jumped out of the motorcycle before it had stopped completely. Kid and I got to the gym, where Superboy and the android were battling it out. I could see Ivo and two of his robot monkeys at his side as he watched the brawl.

Yes, Dick's trophies had been destroyed. I passed by the remains before arriving here.

Kid ran ahead, disorienting the android when he passed by, and grabbed Superboy out of the android's range. He was beat up pretty badly. Robin threw one of his birdarangs at the android, but when it deflected it with Martian Manhunter's powers, I tried using my laser to shoot him. It didn't work out well either.

_'Access: Red Tornado.' _The android said, using Tornado's powers to blow us apart from each other and land on the familiar hard floor of the gym.

Great, another blow to the head that just _had _to be added.

Kid stood up, carrying me as the android blasted us with Captain Marvel's blast. He put me down behind the bleachers, and away from the android's eyes as he ran again, trying to get close.

The android accessed Black Canary's powers and shot at Wally one of her sonic blasts. Superboy tried hitting him, but got blown back to the stands, and Robin shot three of his birdarangs, but they were deflected with ease.

The android grabbed Kid and squeezed, using Superman's strength. Then, the weirdest thing happened. An arrow came slicing down toward the android, he dispersed his molecules like Martian Manhunter, and Kid was free to run around again.

I saw Robin doing a quick study on the arrow. It wasn't the same colour as Roy's; I knew _that _much from where I sat down. Time for questions later.

I willed time to stop, head throbbing, and got up from my spot. I studied the android. If only he had a weakness…

Suddenly, my brain sparked up a plan. I got out my laser, and made time slow down instead of stop. I hit the android with my laser; cutting the top of his head off, and pointed the laser up to the water shoots. I made time return to normal, and the water came crashing down on us. It got inside of the android's system, making it short-circuit.

One point for me, zero for Ivo.

"Quick! Help me dissemble him!" Robin commanded, running up to the android.

"Dude, he short-circuited." Kid said, not wanting to do any extra work.

"Don't take any chances!" Aqualad came running into the school with Miss Martian right behind him.

M'Gann floated toward Superboy, grabbing him by the arm. "Superboy, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He looked at both Robin and I. "Feeling the aster."

I could tell that was his version of an apology, and I accepted it with a grin. Then, I realised something. "Where's Ivo?"

The Team looked around, but we saw that the gym had no trace of the old genius.

One point for us, two points for Ivo.

I walked over to Wally. "Is your arm fine?"

"Apart from almost getting it crushed? Yeah, great!" He replied sarcastically. "Don't worry, mommy. I'm fine."

"Let's go." Aqualad announced to us after Robin finished dissembling the android.

We all walked out of the gym, and I looked at Dick. "You know this means that the school will have to make repairs, right?"

Dick silently fist pumped me, "When we get back to the Cave we're making a toast to no school!" He cackled.

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**Mount Justice**

** August 4, 01: 06 EDT**

I stifled huge yawn as we gave Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and Red Tornado a summary of our mission.

"The Amazo android is in pieces again." Aqualad informed. "It is safely being analysed at the two separate Star Labs. Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android."

"Capturing the professor will be a League priority." Black Canary said.

"But we understand your mission encountered…other complications." Martian Manhunter hesitated with the last two words.

Instantly, all of our smirks and grins were wiped off our faces. We looked at each other, and Superboy turned down in shame. He had finally understood that his behaviour wasn't just rude, but unacceptable, and he felt incredibly ashamed about it.

That was the only thing that mattered.

"Complications come with the job." Batman walked over to stand in front of us. "Your ability to handle them has impressed the League.

"The _whole _League?" Superboy hinted.

"Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads." I couldn't help but chuckle at Bruce's joke about Clark. It was definitely true.

"Of course there's no shame in asking for help, that's why the League exists." Batman continued on. "Because there are some problems even we can't handle individually."

"_Please,_ if we needed help we'd never get the chance to ask!" Robin pulled out the green arrow we found in the gym. "Look familiar?"

Green Arrow came closer, taking a look at the weapon. "You were following us, babysitting, you still don't trust us!" Robin finalised his argument.

Batman passed the arrow to Ollie. "We didn't follow you."

Ollie took out one of his arrows from his pelt, examining them. The tip was different, that wasn't his arrow.

"That's not your arrow." I knew it. "Whose is it then?"

"It's obvious it's Speedy's!" Robin exclaimed.

"He has our backs!" Aqualad smiled.

"Cool! Souvenir!" Wally took the arrow out of Ollie's hands. I looked at Green Arrow, and he looked back, we knew that wasn't Roy's weapon. His arrows were painted black with a red feather, and a tip similar to Ollie's. Not painted dark green with a lighter green feather.

Superboy walked over to Dinah. "I'm ready."

"Good." She said back. "Because I'm here."

Then Dinah turned to me. "And _you_, young lady are going straight to the Medical Bay to get your head examined and bandaged again!"

I groaned, "GA, not right now please!"

Ollie shrugged, "Sorry, kiddo, nothing I can do."

"Fine then." I crossed my arms with a huff.

Wally sped over to me, "If it makes you feel any better, I have a bad arm that has _just got_ to be looked over for any injuries!" He winked.

"Superboy and I can keep you company as well!" M'Gann gave my shoulders a light squeeze.

"I'll stay, too. I am not needed in Atlantis tonight." Kaldur smiled.

"Batman has some files to organise, I guess the only option is to stay with you." Dick shrugged. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to be sleep deprived for three days in a row, now."

I let out a rare, of pure bliss, laugh. Man, was it nice to have friends like these.


	8. Charity Movies

**This chapter took me so much longer to write than it should have, three days my friends, three days. It's only 2,000 words, but the whole idea took me SO long to figure out. Man, I hope you guys like it, at least. I know I liked some of the final product!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character or scene that appears in Young Justice. I own the character, Diana Crane and her whole story (including parents). All associations or similarities to Diana Crane are completely coincidential. I also own any of the scenes that do not occur in Young Justice.**

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**Gotham City**

** August 5, 21: 08 EDT**

"Mister Queen, Miss Lance, Miss Crane." Alfred regarded us at the main entrance of Wayne Manor. "Welcome. I'm glad you could come."

"We're glad to be here, Alfred." Ollie answered politely, and ushered us into the mansion's ballroom. "Diana, remember to smile and _please _try to not ignore guests this time."

I gave Ollie a very wide, and forced grin. "Whatever you say, _Oliver." _

Dinah grabbed my wrist, pulling me away from the families and guests coming into the gigantic marble room. She straightened my long black dress, and looked over the tight bun over my head. "Alright, seems to me that you look close to perfect. Let's go."

Ollie and Dinah walked with their arms interlinked in front of me, and of course, I trailed behind them. Bruce Wayne was having one of his infamous charity balls tonight, and the place was definitely packed.

There were adults ranging from twenty to sixty years of age, and all of them wore tuxedos or extremely expensive and fancy dresses. Some men and women came up to me, trying to chat me up, so that when they tried making business with Oliver Queen, they would have an advantage.

Something most of these people had in common? They were stuck up, high-class women and men.

"Oh, what a lovely lady you are! Mister Queen and Miss Lance are _so lucky _that they've got such wonderful company!" A woman, who obviously had plastic surgery, sipped her champagne.

I smiled as much as I could. "Oh, you're too kind, Mrs. Porter!"

And with that final note, I escaped the forever-growing circle around me.

I tucked the small pieces of my chestnut hair that did not go into my bun behind my ear. If I didn't find Dick soon, I think I was going to start punching civilians. That wasn't going to be good on my superhero record.

Hey, wasn't Barbara coming to the charity ball, too?

Those thoughts filled me with happiness. I hadn't seen the redhead in such a long time, almost a week and a half. It was a wonder how she hadn't called Dick or I.

I strolled through the ballroom, my black shoes clicking on the marble beneath me. I smiled gracefully in different directions at different people.

"So, Miss Crane, excited to be here?" Barbara interlinked our arms, giving me a warm welcoming smile.

That was probably the first real joyful expression she had given anyone tonight, not counting Alfred.

"Well, Miss Gordon, as much as I enjoy a good party," I mused, "This is just not my style."

Barbara burst into giggles. "I haven't seen you in so long, Ana!"

I nodded in agreement, "A week and a half, to be exact. Why didn't you call?"

"My dad and I were out in Louisiana, we decided to take a short vacation."

"How was it?"

"My dad played police twice when we were there and almost got arrested. He isn't supposed to go out incarcerating bad guys if he's not from the state."

I snorted. "A police officer almost got arrested."

Barbara rolled her clear blue eyes, "Oh, the irony."

At that point we had worked our way through the mass of people, and were standing in front of the buffet table. I saw Bruce and Dick talking to two men in grey tuxedos.

I gave Dick a small wave, and he grinned. He signalled us to wait about three minutes.

I sighed, "Want to get some food?"

Barbara smirked, "It _is _an all you can eat buffet."

The two of us walked toward the plates, and that's when I truly noticed what Barbara was wearing. It was the dark green dress from Chanel that I had bought her months back.

I smiled, remembering how much she'd protested about it being too costly for her. We had so much fun that day, and I could tell that me buying that dress for her had delighted nevertheless.

"I like your dress." I said without looking up from the grapes and cheese in my plate. Classy food.

Barbara looked down, and grinned at me. "Well, I _had _to wear it someday. I wasn't going to let one thousand dollars go to waste in my closet."

I nodded, "It looks good on you."

"Thanks, Ana." Barbara gave my naked shoulder a squeeze. "Nice choice of dress. Black looks great on your skin tone."

"I agree, Babs. She does look good." We turned around to see Dick with a smirk on his face. "But why would Dinah buy you a strapless dress? Isn't it too much for thirteen?"

I rolled my eyes, "Well, dad, you see…I'm a big girl now."

Dick smiled at me. Barbara moved in to hug him, explaining how she was out in Louisiana with her dad this past week and that's why she hadn't called either of us.

"We should go up stairs. I'm already sick of all these people trying to compliment me." Dick came closer to us, whispering in front of our faces.

"Dick, you, out of the three of us, should have expected to be bombarded by compliments." I rolled my eyes.

"Stop trying to show off the fact that people think that you're amazing!" Barbara stuck her tongue out, and encouraged us to follow her up.

I took one last thing from the food table, an apple, and together we went up the grand staircase to the manor's large living room.

I sat on the couch, Barbara and Dick fanning out on either side of me. Barbara and I ate in silence, and we often slapped Dick's hand away from our plates of food.

"C'mon, just a little bit?" Dick pouted cutely.

"Don't do the puppy eyes." I commanded. "Don't. Do. The—Ah, fine!"

I gave into his gaze and placed three grapes and one piece of cheese in his outstretched hand.

"Diana, you really need to learn to not give into him. He could get away with _murder_!" Barbara exclaimed.

Dick and I smirked at each other, "What makes you think he hasn't gotten away with it, yet?"

Barbara stared at us for a few seconds, but we were silent. Soon, her eyes widened profoundly, and she scooted farther away from us. My smirk widened one more inch every time that she slid more and more across from us.

Dick cackled, "All right, I think that's enough horror for the night."

"Are you kidding me?" I looked at him incredulously, "We still need to watch one of those new horror movies that Bruce bought!"

Barbara gazed at us suspiciously, "So no murder, right? 'Cause I would have to hand you over to my dad."

"Nope."

"No murderers here."

"If you don't count Bruce…"

"D!"

I laughed loudly, "I'm sorry, Dick. I just had to say that!"

Dick rolled his eyes, "We're watching Paranormal Activity Four."

Barbara grinned in excitement, but I just sat in nervous silence. So, I could kick the Joker, Riddler, Amazo, and Bane's sorry butts, but I definitely didn't like watching Paranormal Activity. Any other horror movie, I was completely fine with, but I feared this one.

I was Timeless, The Only Female Time Controller, though. I had to watch it, or else I might dishonour the name of the time controlling industry.

Now, we couldn't let _that _happen.

Dick looked at me, and smugly smirked. "What's wrong, D? Afraid of the PA number four?"

I straightened my dress, "In your dreams, Dick. Bring it on." And so, the movie started.

Okay, I'm not exactly going to say that I put my brave facade on and didn't scream or anything. I actually did shriek, a lot, too. I hid my face more times than I can recall in Dick's neck, and Barbara's shoulder.

We didn't stop the movie, though, and I knew why. Dick and Barbara were very much aware of my ginormous pride, and how deeply maddened I would be if they stopped the movie only because of me.

They both tried comforting me as much as they could, Dick even gave me a light peck on the forehead to try and soothe me.

It worked for about ten seconds, but then I started slightly trembling again.

Almost at the end of the movie Alfred came up, "Miss Gordon, your father says it is time for you to leave."

Barbara groaned in annoyance. "The one night we get to spend together, the one night I have to leave early."

My eyes widened, "My right side is going to be vulnerable for any ghost to pull me to the dark hallway and kill me!"

Dick cackled softly, and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "Well, Barbara, we'll walk you down. It's not going to be fun watching the movie with _her._"

I punched his arm, but quickly held on to it again. "Yeah, we'll go with you."

The three of us walked down, Alfred behind us. We made light talk on the way down, but mostly, it was Barbara and Dick teasing me for being so frightened by such a bad horror movie.

I could feel Dick's joking was ever more teasing because, common, a super heroine that has fought some of the maddest men in the world being scared of Paranormal Activity?

It was almost like I willingly let him blackmail me.

We reached the entrance, where Commissioner Gordon was waiting for his daughter to reach him. "Bye, Dick. Bye, Diana!"

"Bye, Barbie!"

"Bye, Babs!"

Before Barbara followed her dad to the car she turned to us, "We should hang out more often."

Dick and I nodded in agreement, waving to her as she left.

We whirled around, looking at the party. There was still a multitude of people in the ballroom, but a lot of guests had left home. It was about ten o'clock, now.

Some people had to go to work tomorrow, and for that, they needed to sleep.

I raised my head just an inch to look at Dick who was smiling at me. Ever since our mission in Cadmus, Dick had grown a few centimeters taller than me. I kind of liked it. Not that I was ever telling him that, though. "What is it, Wonder Boy?"

"I can't believe you were scared of that movie so badly! I think you cut off my blood circulation a few times."

I smirked at him. "I didn't hear you complain."

"I didn't want to complain."

"Okay, now you're making absolutely no sense."

"Do I have to make sense?"

"Considering that the words 'whelming' and 'aster' don't make sense, then no."

"Exactly."

We chuckled, almost as if we were a bit timid to continue the conversation.

Suddenly, Dick grabbed me, leading us to where the older couples were dancing together to classical lounge music. "Uh, Dick?"

"Yes?" He answered, wrapping his arm around my waist and taking my hand with his own.

I sighed, a soft smile planted on my lips. I preferred not questioning when he looked at me like that. "Nothing. Just, I had fun today."

I placed my arm around his neck, and we were pushed in so close that there was almost no room between us.

"Me too. The three of us should hang out every week, at least."

"You know that our 'extra curricular activities' take up _a lot_ of our time, Wonder Boy."

"Yeah, but still."

I let out a blissful laugh as Dick spun me around three times before I was in my original spot again. I rested my head on his shoulder, the black fabric of his expensive tuxedo tickling my chin.

We kept going like this, Dick spinning and twirling me, and I laughing occasionally.

We danced in silence, and there was a wonderful stillness in between us two, one that I did not want to break.

I could only describe this dance with my best friend as wondrous, as fantastic, as quiet, and as something else that I couldn't put my finger on.

The best part about it? I knew Dick felt the same about this moment.

At the same time, I was almost sure that he would never feel the same for me as I did him. Dick would never have the same passion that I kept. I knew that he would probably end up with Barbara, fiery hair and clear blue eyes, or Bette Kane, with her pretty blond hair and perfect skin. Never me, no, not with my normal brown hair and cloudy Caribbean eyes. Not when there were girls with more curves, with more body, than me.

Without a warning, the song ended and we both looked at each other. I could see Dick had so many expressions running through his eyes, flashing and disappearing before I could place the emotion.

This only fed my insecurity, even if the arrogant side of me told me that it was a good sign.

"Let's go upstairs. I want to watch another movie." I told him, pulling faintly at his hand that hadn't left mine even after the dance ended.

"How about we watch the last James Bond movie?" Dick smiled, snapping out of the trance he was in a few seconds ago.

"You read my mind, as always, Wonder Boy."

That night, Ollie and Dinah were one of the last guests to leave the party. Of course, since they were one of the last ones, we left at two o'clock in the morning.

Dick and I had fallen asleep on the couch apparently, our feet tangled with each other.

Bruce had taken two pictures of the two of us, giving one of the copies to Dinah for me.

When I got home, I put the picture on my nightstand. That's where I intended it to be kept for so long Dick and I were friends.

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**Please Review! :)**


	9. Goddess of Hunt

**What's this? Double update? You know it! :) These two chapters that I posted were both filler-ins, so I decided you guys deserved to at least get two chapters. The last chapter didn't have a lot of action in it anyway. **

**Hope you enjoy! **

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**Gotham City**

** August 7, 19: 34 EDT**

"So, we're meeting up tomorrow at the Cave, right?" I asked Dick through the phone that was nestled between my head and shoulder.

_"Yeah, remember to bring your swimsuit. We're having a beach day!' _Dick cackled through the line. _'We haven't gone to the beach ever since two months ago with Wally and Roy."_

I smiled sadly, remembering the last time we saw the older redhead. "Yeah, I miss building sandcastles. Hey, with Kaldur there this time, we won't have to fill a bucket with water every five seconds."

_"That's definitely whelming! Hey, I have to go. Bruce promised a company that he would go have dinner with the manager."_

"Let me guess, dear old Bruce is dragging you with him."

_"He wants an excuse to leave early."_

"How smart of him. Well, then, see you tomorrow, Dick! Don't get kidnapped _again._"

_"Love you, too." _I could imagine Dick rolling his eyes with a smirk. "_Bye."_

The line went dead, and as soon as we were done talking, I finished perfecting my big toe. I had decided to be a little girly today and paint my nails turquoise. A half-Latina can never fail with the colour turquoise contrasting her skin tone.

It worked perfectly.

"Diana, Ollie's here!" I heard Dinah's voice calling me from downstairs. I looked out at the night sky from my balcony door. It had been cloudy all morning and most of the afternoon, but finally it was clearing, slowly, yes, but clearing nevertheless.

I stood up from my bed, sighing when I saw the Bat signal shooting up into the clouds. So much for the dinner Bruce had promised to go to.

My mind wandered to Dick, and I hoped that whatever the trouble was, he was going to be careful.

"I'm coming!" I called back at my mother, and ran down the staircase. I pulled my jeans up, and straightened my purple shirt before halting.

"Uh, who's that?" I pointed at the blond girl standing next to Ollie. Surprisingly, they looked very alike. They had the same colour of blond hair, both had tanned skin, and they're eyes were dark.

I could tell that the girl was half-Asian; her darker complexion gave her away. Then, I noticed something that startled me; she had the most amazing shade of grey dancing in her eyes.

"Diana, I'd like to you meet Artemis Crock. Artemis, this is Diana Crane." Ollie introduced us. "Diana is Black Canary's protégé. Artemis is going to be my new apprentice."

My eyes widened. "Oh, okay…well, what about Roy?"

"Diana, Roy is out of our range, now." Dinah placed her hand on my shoulder. "Oliver and I decided that the Team needed an archer, someone who could shoot from great distances, and Artemis is definitely skilled on her field of weapons."

Ollie nodded, "You two should go upstairs. Get to know each other better."

I stood there, partly in shock and confusion. Artemis looked at me in suspicion, like I would shout at her to get out of the house anytime soon. She didn't trust me, but if we were to work together, I needed to change that.

"All right, follow me, Artemis." I hesitated, gesturing for her to come up the stairs.

We walked up in silence, none of us really figuring out what to say to the other. I played with my thumbs, if only Wally or Dick were here, they would make the whole situation less awkward.

We reached our room and I opened the door, moving over to let Artemis through. "So, how did Oliver find you?"

Artemis shrugged, looking at my bedroom. "I saw you guys fighting Amazo, shot an arrow that saved Kid Flash's life, and ever since then Green Arrow just sort of…took me in."

"Hold up, that was _your_ arrow?" I exclaimed. "That was a mighty good shot!"

Artemis smiled faintly, "Uh, thanks. I like the fact that your room has a balcony. It's cool."

I nodded in appreciation of the compliment. "It's perfect for escaping at night." I joked, remembering when Wally and Dick came.

That had been a lot of fun.

Artemis nodded, "I bet it is." She picked up the photograph on my nightstand. "Is this your boyfriend?"

It was the picture of Dick and I sleeping together on his couch after we'd watched the James Bond movie in Bruce's charity ball. I had framed it in the morning. "Oh, no! That's Dick, we're just friends."

"Well, you two seem to have gotten pretty cozy there." Artemis smirked, visibly relaxing after spending a few minutes with me.

I shook my head. "Nah, we could have gotten much closer."

Artemis quirked an eyebrow at my sentence, and my cheeks flushed. "That came out wrong."

"No kidding."

I played with one of the waves of my hair in embarrassment. "Anyway, how old are you? You're obviously older than me."

"I'm fifteen."

I let a faint smile overcome my face. "You know who else is fifteen? One of my best friends. His name is Wally, and come to think about it, you two would make a cute couple."

I could totally see Wally being head-over-heels for the blond in front of me, even though I didn't know what type of guy Artemis liked.

"He sounds like a dork." Artemis scrounged up her nose. "I mean, what type of name is Wally?"

I chuckled. "It's a unique type of name, one that runs extremely fast and always eats like he starved himself for, like, one month."

Artemis let out a loud laugh, "Well then, I'm _sure _that I'd _just love _to meet this Wally you're talking about."

I joined in with her laughing, but then realised something. "Hey, you know what we should do? We should go out and stop a robbery or something! It'd be great practice, and since you're joining the team, you need to impress them."

Artemis pondered my idea, "Would Arrow and Canary approve of going out?"

I smirked, "Maybe…or maybe not."

Artemis showed me a very smug expression. "Let's do it."

Okay, so I learned pretty quickly that Artemis loved the break the rules. That fact just made me love her even more. It was nice hanging out with her, and her costume was pretty cool. Her alter ego was named Artemis, yeah; no one's going to find out whom _she _is.

We jumped off my balcony, leaving a note to Ollie and Dinah of what we were doing.

"Wait, Artemis! I'll go get my motorcycle." I hurried into the house's garage, taking out my Timeless motorcycle. It was white with grey stripes running along its sides.

"Nice ride." Artemis nodded in appreciation as I came out, hauling the bike beside me.

I gave her a toothy grin. "Thanks! Robin, you know him right? Well, he helped me make it. He's a genius when it comes to motorcycles."

Artemis smirked, "Another one of your 'just friends'?"

_It's not just another one, it's the same one_, I thought. It was so funny to see what people reacted like when they didn't know both of a superhero's identities.

I shrugged, "Yeah, just another friend."

I sat on the seat of my motorcycle, and Artemis came after me. I looked back at her after I didn't feel her hands holding onto me, did she _want _to fall off my bike? I didn't want to help a bloody body into the nearest hospital.

After I got no response from Artemis, I turned back around, and we sped off into the night.

If she falls off, it is _so_ not on me.

The streets of Gotham City are dangerous during the day, but at night it felt like all the villains in the world had attended a meeting and decided to attack. Luckily, for us and for the bad guys, there were no serious crimes happening around.

There were a few robberies here and there that Artemis and I stopped, but individually. Artemis had to fire three arrows, and I had lashed out my whip at four grown men. It was, so far, a very uneventful night.

Artemis sighed behind me, "Everyone just decided to stay home and not commit any crimes or something?"

I smirked, "I'm sure we'll find _something_. Every time I go on patrol, there's at least one crime worthy of my skills."

Artemis snorted, "Alright, show off. Let's find some good stuff."

I increased the speed of my motorcycle, trying to find a good robbery or kidnap. Artemis and I still didn't find something ten minutes into our short stop, but we didn't give up hope that there would be some bad dude waiting to get his butt whipped by two teenage girls.

Seriously, though, this is Gotham City. If we don't find anything suspicious soon, I'm going to start freaking out.

Suddenly, I heard a shriek coming from our left, and immediately stopped the motorcycle. I saw some older men hauling a boy into a factory; I had driven up to Gotham's port. Instantly, my eyes widened at the sight of the boy that the men had been carrying.

That boy was in fourth grade. He studied in my school!

"What is it?" Artemis questioned me.

"That's Toby Johnson! He's in my school!" I exclaimed before jumping out of my ride, and running to where the men had taken the younger boy. "We have to help him!"

Artemis pulled on my arm, but when I struggled against her hold, she slapped me. I shuddered in pain, "What was that for?"

Artemis apologised. "I needed to snap you out of it. That guy might be younger than anyone would like a kidnapping victim to be, but we can't just barge in and kick butt, and I'm not saying we can't do that, because we could. We just need a plan."

I glared at her for defying me. What if the Toby was being tortured at that very moment? Goodness sake, where the hell was Batman when you needed him!

I clenched my teeth painfully. "Fine then, what should we do?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Cut the attitude, princess. We'll rescue that little guy soon enough, but we have to work together."

I sighed in defeat, the older girl was right. I gave the factory a quick perimeter study on my bike, and stopped in front of Artemis. "There's four windows, two back doors, three trash bins, and four ventilation chutes, but at the very top of the wall."

Artemis nodded. "Any ideas? You are the expert here."

I smirked, "Oh, I have some very good ideas. Here's the plan…"

Artemis threw in suggestions that I gladly accepted. I don't think that I'd ever worked with someone in such harmony and complete unison, except Dick, of course.

When we finished perfecting our master plan, we set to work.

This was going to be fun.

I ran toward the trashcans at the back of the factory and threw three explosive pellets at them. The loud boom echoed around us, and I ran to the left side of the building where Artemis was waiting for me. Her arrow had created a thread line for us to climb on and get to the ventilation system.

As we heard shouts of the older men come out of the factory, Artemis and I were halfway climbing to the wind chutes. Soon enough, the men were smarter than they looked; gunshots were being fired at the both of us. I shouted at Artemis to go faster after a bullet narrowly missed me.

We got to the ventilation system's level, and we scrambled inside. I was panting and sweating at that point. Getting guns pointed at you was really not whelming.

"Which way should we go?" Artemis asked me, turning and sitting beside me.

"Haven't you seen the movies? We look down at the ventilation shafts." I answered nonchalantly.

We crawled in silence after that, looking down when we could, trying to locate Toby. I didn't know how much time passed, but when I heard threats being shouted from my left, I had no hesitation whatsoever to go in that direction. Artemis followed me, and we listened in to what the bad guys wanted with Toby.

I could see that the boy had been tied up to a metal chair, and about six men were in the room with him. Three behind him and three in front. I cursed under my breath, all of them had guns, this was going to be harder than I predicted it would be.

"Kid, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." The leader of the group stood in the center of it all, brooding in front of the clearly frightened Toby.

"What do you want?" Toby whimpered.

My heart made a little hurt jump inside of my chest. Every day, I would see Toby playing basketball with his group of friends, and he would look so cheerful and happy. He has always looked like nothing could ever stop him, that's why I was so desperate to find him before.

I didn't want them to shatter his invincibility. Toby, as little and as insignificant as he seemed, gave me strength sometimes.

Toby was a big fan of my alter ego, Timeless, and he loved the things I did and the powers that I had. This little boy taught me something about being invincible one time, and in returned I tried inspiring him on every little thing that I did.

I tried so hard on every fight that I fought.

The leader laughed, "Your family has something that we want, and I'm sure they would give anything for their little dear son's live. We want the big red ruby your family keeps locked away on a vault."

I growled deep in my throat. Of course, the bad guys only wanted Toby as blackmail material for the red ruby his parents had. Most people in Gotham Academy were rich, and Toby was no exception. His dad's family had inherited a mystic ruby from a Chinese emperor.

It was some pretty whacky history lesson that I'll save for another day.

Artemis nudged my shoulder, and I looked at the guards that were on either side of Toby. Two of them had fallen asleep, and the rest weren't even paying attention to the interrogation.

I smirked, and nodded at Artemis. It was show time.

I used my laser to open up the wind chute window, and Artemis quietly slid it away from the hole. She notched three arrows on her bow, and shot them, knocking out the guns in three of the men's hands.

I smiled, well what would you know? She's very well in Green Arrow's league already!

We both jumped out from the ventilation system, and landed back-to-back. I gave Toby a quick look for confidence, winking at him.

You should have seen the way his face lit up. It was so wonderful to know I did that.

I roundhouse kicked two of the men, and instantly they fell on the floor unconscious. Man, was it useful to have Black Canary teach you how to knock out a guy in one move.

I took out my whip from my utility belt, and lashed out at the leader, he was the only man standing in the room.

The man glared at us, "So, Timeless, I see you came to the rescue. You look radiant, as always, and who's this? A girl archer?"

Artemis grunted in annoyance. "My name is Artemis, and you better learn it like your life depends on it."

The man nodded, smirking, before he tried to vanish in the shadows. Keyword: Tried. Artemis shot an arrow at his leather jacket, making it impossible for him to get out of the room without hurting himself.

Artemis notched another arrow on her bow. "Remember why we came here, Timeless." She reminded me, keeping a straight gaze on the leader of the unconscious goons. She started to interrogate him.

I hurried over to where Toby was standing in awe at the battle that had just unfolded right before his very eyes. "That. Was. Amazing!"

I grinned at him, a swell forming on my chest. "You think so?"

Toby shook his head. "I don't think so, I _know _so!"

I laughed, but soon got back to business. "You're not hurt are you?"

Toby shook his head again. "Not really. My wrists just feel very sore, but thank you for saving me. That was really nice of you."

I ruffled his cinnamon hair. "It's not an act of kindness as much as it is my duty to rescue people. Besides, it was a pleasure saving you. I've wanted to do something for the past two days, but nothing has come up. Until we saw you, of course."

Toby nodded, and smiled. I handed him a phone I recovered from one of the unconscious men, "Would you mind calling nine-one-one for me?"

Toby smirked. "It would be my pleasure."

When he said that one sentence, those five words, I knew that the Invincible Toby Johnson was still there. He wasn't gone, and I was so relieved to know that.

Soon, I heard familiar sirens outside the factory, and the police force marched into the room where I now stood in front of the man who had captured Toby, we learned that his name was Blake, with my laser pointed at him. Artemis had been asking Toby questions about himself, filling up the silenced room with their tranquil voices.

Commissioner Gordon regarded Artemis and I with kind looks. "I appreciate what you girls did tonight. Thank you. Who's your new friend, Timeless?"

Artemis answered spontaneously. "I'm Artemis, Green Arrow's new right hand man."

Commissioner Gordon nodded, and after he got our story on what happened and compared it with Toby's, he let us leave the factory.

As we walked back to my motorcycle I turned to Artemis, "I told you we'd find something exciting to do."

Artemis smiled at me. "Yeah, but it ended pretty quickly."

I nodded in agreement, "The goons were _so _not a match for our fighting skills."

Artemis bumped her shoulder with mine, which resulted to her having to bend down to a slightly uncomfortable squatting position. "We made a good team tonight. We should hang out more often."

That last sentence was the same exact one that Barbara had told Dick and I yesterday at the charity ball in Bruce's manor. I could tell, without a doubt, that Artemis and I were sure to be great friends for years to come.

I gave her a toothy grin. "I agree. We'll definitely be doing this more, and you've gained my trust, Artemis. I don't care if someone on the Team doesn't welcome you, I'll stand by your side."

Artemis looked down, almost in shame, but she regained her composure pretty quickly. "The same goes for you…Diana."

I gave her an assuring smile, but what was I reassuring her for? I had no idea. I just knew that I had made the right move because Artemis instantly loosened up.

"Well, now we have to face Arrow and Canary's wrath. Believe me, they can be pretty scary when they want to be." I got on the grey leather seat of my motorcycle.

Artemis rolled her eyes, and climbed on my ride behind me. "I've faced enough anger from adults to last me a last time."

I gave her a questioning look, but somehow, the way she looked at me, told me everything. The expression in her eyes was the same one that I wore anytime someone mentioned my father, or something that reminded me of him.

Artemis hesitated. "I'll tell you later."

I already had pretty good speculation on what she was going to tell me _later_. Of course, it would definitely not change how I looked upon her, but I wondered why she was hiding something like this from me. One of my parents was also a villain! It was nothing to be _too_ ashamed of.

I guess her and I could think very differently sometimes, even if we had worked in perfect unison a few minutes back. Even the most alike of minds had to think separately once in a while.


	10. Infiltrator

**Mount Justice**

** August 8, 09: 38 EDT**

I let out a bubbly laugh. "Beach party! We're going to have so much fun! It's a miracle you wanted to join us, Superboy." I looked at the clone with a teasing smirk.

Superboy rolled his eyes in return, but smiled afterward.

"Hello Megan!" M'Gann raised her hands up in excitement. "We should hit the beach _everyday!" _

I nodded in agreement. The Cave had been built right at the coast of Happy Harbour. We could go out and soak up some rays or play in the sand every once in a while. We should have thought of that sooner.

"First," Dick hung down his head, "A moment of silence for our absent comrade."

I adjusted my white bikini top and pulled up my black shorts, trying to distract myself from laughing. Wally had been forced into going to school today, classes were supposed to start, but since yours truly had demolished Gotham Academy…Well, Dick and I weren't going to have homework for a week.

"Poor Wally." M'Gann mumbled guiltily.

A few more seconds passed without any of us saying anything before I interrupted the moment. "So, are we going to stand here mopping about Wally all day or are we going to have fun? 'Cause, I would much rather have fun."

Dick smirked at me, and let the volleyball and towel he was carrying drop down onto the white sand. "Alright then, I'll help you experience the aster."

I was about to ask him what he meant, but soon enough, I was thrown over his shoulder and being carried out to where the ocean was. I threatened Dick with all the possible ways of knocking him out, a punch on the face, and very hurtful kick, or a toxic gas pellet.

He knew I wasn't going to do anything to him, though.

That was exactly the reason why he didn't answer my protests, and threw me into the cold water. When I resurfaced, I could hear Dick's cackles from in front of me. The salt water had gotten in my eyes, so I made a wild grab in the noise's direction, and successfully submerged him. I squeezed the salt water out of my eyes as soon as I heard a splash.

"You are so going down for that, D!" Dick spluttered. He hurried to place his dark sunglasses back on his face before anyone, except me, saw the mischief running through his eyes.

I smirked, "I'd like to see you try, Wonder Boy!"

Soon, both him and I had engaged in a full-on water war, and the only sounds I could locate were our constant laughter.

"We should build a sandcastle!" M'Gann exclaimed from the shore. Instantly, my splashing stopped and I battled with the currents to get to the Martian.

"Let's do it!" I panted, plopping down on the sand beneath me.

"You left me for _sand?_" I heard Dick call out to me from the shallower water as M'Gann and I started with our building.

I winked at him, "Jealous?"

Dick nodded his head, "Yeah! D, that sandcastle is getting more love from you than I have in months!"

We went on bantering for what seemed like forever before Kaldur threw a jet of water at us. Dick and I looked at each other, totally forgetting our current argument, and went on ahead to start a war with Kaldur.

Soon, M'Gann and Superboy decided to join us with not much bribing. The five of us splashed until we were tired, decided to cook some sausages for lunch, which M'Gann and Superboy ate with quite the vigor, and even buried Superboy in the sand.

"You make a fine sandman, Superboy." I gave him a toothy grin from where I sat, adding more sand onto his stomach.

Superboy smirked, "I always wanted to be a sandman."

We soon decided to play a round of beach volleyball that quickly became ten rounds, just to see who would win. Since there were five of us, we had to rotate teams. M'Gann and I got to be together on the fourth rotation, and we totally kicked Dick and Superboy's butts.

Then, when it was the sun was beginning to set, we all decided to start packing up.

I slapped Dick's arms to get his attention away from stuffing his face with one more hot dog. "Look at the sunset! Isn't it beautiful?"

I could see from the corner of my eye the rest of our friends looking up at the purples and oranges of the sky. "Look, Superboy!" I saw M'Gann grab hold of Superboy's arm, but quickly retreat her hand.

They were so cute.

"Yeah," Dick sighed next to me, "It's wonderful."

I turned to him to see him grinning down at me. "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Oh, I was smiling?"

I shook my head in exasperation. "You're such a dummy. C'mon, we've got to finish packing."

When we got back to the Cave we were ordered by Batman to change to our uniforms, apparently we were supposed to meet him in the mission room for some important announcement.

When we got to the mission room we were all greeted by Green Arrow and Artemis, when they stood next to each other, you would think they were related.

I gave her a small smile, one that she returned with a nod of the head.

_'Recognized: Kid Flash B03.'_

We all saw Wally come into the Cave, a bunch of beach gear propped on his shoulders. He was wearing swim trunks and sunglasses. "The Wallman is in the house!"

I gave Kaldur a panicked look; we forgot to tell him that our time in the beach was over.

Wally fell over, tripping over his sandals, and I couldn't help but try to hide my face in embarrassment. I felt bad for the poor guy.

"Wallman, huh? I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?" Artemis smirked at me as if to say, _so _this _is Wally? _

I nodded, smiling in shame of having said that they would be good for each other.

"Uh, who's this?" Wally asked.

"Artemis, your new teammate."

"Kid Flash. Never heard of you." Wally replied quite smoothly for a guy who fell over a few seconds back.

"Um, she's my new protégé." Green Arrow cut in.

"Wha—what happened to your old one?" Wally stuttered.

_'Recognized: Speedy BO6.' _

"Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore." Roy strolled in, giving us a greeting nod. "Call me Red Arrow."

"Roy, you look—" Green Arrow got interrupted.

"Replaceable." Roy threw out the word at us, and then it truly impacted me on how much those eleven letters hurt him.

"It's not like that, Roy! You told Arrow you were going solo." I grabbed Roy's bicep with my smaller hand, trying to call him down with my voice.

It seemed to have some effect on him. He sighed, "Can she even use that bow?"

Artemis stepped forward, getting up of Red Arrow's face. "Yes, _she _can."

"Who are you?" Wally exclaimed, getting fed up with not knowing who Artemis really was. Well, he wasn't about to find out soon.

"I'm his niece."

"She's my niece."

Ollie and Artemis answered at the same time, instantly sparking doubt on Robin's face. I mentally smacked my forehead, way to blow her cover.

"She is not your replacement." Kaldur explained to Roy. "We have always wanted you on the team, and we've got no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick." Wally grinned at Roy.

I stepped forward, and glared at Wally. "I've fought side by side with Artemis before, believe me, you better choose your words carefully. She's as skilled with the bow as Red Arrow is."

Robin gave me a weird look. "You've already met her before?"

I shrugged in response, and Artemis gave Wally her own answer about his comment. "Look, Baywatch, I'm here to stay."

Roy gave me a look as if to say, _you're siding with the newbie, now?_

I returned his gaze; _you're like my brother, but that doesn't mean that I'll let people insult Artemis._

I shook my head. "You came for a reason, right? Other than inform us of your new name."

Roy nodded, "Yeah, a reason called Doctor Serlin Rockette."

Robin opened up his arm computer, projecting the files on Doctor Rockette as giant holograms in the mission room. "A Nano robotics genius that gave classes in Royal University in Star City! She vanished two weeks ago."

"Abducted two weeks ago." Roy corrected Dick. "By the League of Shadows."

"Whoa, you want us to rescue her from the shadows?" Robin tried giving me a fist bump, but when I didn't comply, he turned to Wally and together they were submerged in their world of dorks.

Roy hadn't finished talking. "Let me guess, you rescued her?" With that one question, I shattered the Team's hopes of going on a dangerous mission.

Roy smirked at me. "I got to her yesterday. Only one problem, the Shadows had already coursed her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it The Fog, comprised of millions of microscopic robots. Nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path; concrete, steel, flesh, _and bone. _It's true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft. The infiltrators steal data from any computer system, and deliver the stolen Intel to the Shadows."

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation…Yeah, sounds like the shadows." Artemis rolled her eyes.

_"_Like you know anything about the Shadows." After Wally only got a smirk from Artemis in return, he shouted. "_Who are you_?"

"Rockette is working on a virus to render the Fog." Roy interrupted them.

"But is the Shadow's know she can do that…" Robin started.

"They'll target her." I finished for him.

"Exactly. Right now she's of the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab." Red Arrow informed us.

"You left her _alone_?" Green Arrow demanded.

"She's safe enough for now."

"Then let's, you and I, keep it that way."

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?"

Batman placed a hand on Ollie's shoulder before he could say anything else. "You brought this to the Team, which makes it their mission. So it's her mission now, too."

Roy scuffed. "Then my job's done."

I tried walking to where Roy was going to, and talk out his conflicted emotions with me. He needed someone to support him at this time in his life, but Robin's hand held me back. He shook his head, _not a good idea to go after Roy tonight. You can do that later. _

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

**Happy Harbor**

** August 8, 21: 53 EDT**

I stood inside one of the classrooms in Happy Harbor's local high school. Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, and I were assigned to stay with Doctor Rockette.

_'Everyone online?' _I heard Miss M say inside my head.

'_Ugh, this feels…weird.' _Artemis wiggled her fingers.

_'And distracting,' _Rockette typed away on her computer. _'Coding a distribute virus in a computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to listen to teen junk in my skull?' _

_ 'Lady, do you always complain every time someone tries to help you?' _Wally bit into his chocolate bar, and I plucked off a piece, sticking it into my mouth as I sat side-by-side with the speedster.

_'No wonder Red Arrow decided to make us deal with you. Just…Please calm down.' _I pleaded. Doctor Rockette had been nagging at us for ten minutes now. It was starting to get on my nerves.

_'I can't believe a newbie drove Red Arrow off the Team.' _Kid whined, letting me get another piece of his food, but when he said that, I threw the chocolate at his face.

_'That is so not on me!' _Artemis defended herself.

_'Fate of the world at stake?' _Rockette reminded us.

_'She started it!' _Wally counterattacked.

_'How about I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter?' _Artemis decided.

I jumped off the cabinet I had been resting on, _'I'll come with you.' _

_ 'You might cut her some slack, it was her arrow that saved your butt against the Amazo.' _Robin taunted Kid as we left the room.

_'No way! That was Speedy's, I mean Red Arrow's arrow…right?' _Wally hesitated.

_'Not so much.' _I answered back telepathically while still walking with Artemis out of the school.

_'Still not giving her the satisfaction!' _I could almost picture Kid crossing his arms, pouting like a little kid.

'_You know I can still hear you?' _Artemis scowled at the conversation going on inside her head. She looked at me, "_This _is the guy that you paired me up with?"

I gave her a toothy grin, "I didn't think you guys would get on so badly!"

Artemis groaned. "Whatever. I've just never met a guy so infuriating!"

I nodded. "Wally can come off like that sometimes, but don't worry, he'll lighten up…eventually."

Artemis gave me the smallest of smiles. "You're probably the only person on the Team that doesn't resent me for driving Red Arrow off the group'."

We got out of the hallway and into the outside grounds, so I switched to speaking telepathically. _'Robin doesn't resent you for that, and I don't think Miss Martian does either.'_

Artemis rolled her eyes, _'Okay, so that's your boyfriend and Miss Telepathy.'_

I quirked my eyebrow at her, _'He's not my—'_

_'I think he is.'_ Miss M chipped into our conversation.

_'But he's not.'_

_'Oh, but you two act like a couple already.' _Wally answered back. I had forgotten everyone could hear us.

I could feel my face starting to heat up, '_He's not my—'_

Superboy jumped in front of Miss Martian, Artemis, and I all of a sudden. The three of us were guardian the back entrance of the school.

_'Mm, that boy.' _Artemis smirked from her crouching spot next to me.

_'We're on a mission, Artemis. Not on a scouting trip to look at boys.' _I rolled my eyes.

'_He can hear you. We can _all_ hear you.' _Miss Martian's eyes had a little angry flame dancing on them.

_ 'Oh, I know.' _She replied. It took all my willpower not to gape at her straight-forwardness.

Older teenagers and their hormones, I swear.

_'Miss Martian, Doctor Rockette has located the Fog's location. Relocate the bioship so Robin, and Superboy can pursuit.' _

_ 'Ready.' _Miss Martian announced. As Robin ran by us, he gave me a wink. It was such a spontaneous thing that I couldn't even retort with one of my quick remarks when it came to us two.

What was _that _all about?

The three of us girls walked back to the backgrounds of the school after Robin and Superboy flew off, leaving us with Kid and Aqualad. We took our original spots in front of the back entrance, with me standing in between Miss Martian and Artemis.

_'You embarrassed Superboy.' _M'Gann spoke in the telepathic link.

_'Didn't hear him say that.' _Artemis gave me a joking wink. I knew she was just teasing, but M'Gann wouldn't be aware of that fact.

_'Must you challenge everyone?' _Miss Martian scowled.

_'Where I come from, that's how you survive.' _Artemis gave me a fleeting look, and I nodded.

She knew about my history and my parentage, I had decided to tell her, and in return, she told me her father was Sportsmaster. Artemis relied on me to know how she felt, to be able to relate to her, and not dislike her for the fact that her background toughened her up.

_'M'Gann, Diana, Kid, Artemis, we're under attack in the computer lab!' _Aqualad exclaimed inside my mind, making it throb painfully.

The three of us looked at each other in panic, and ran inside the building, going at a speed that Wally would have admitted to be impressive for a non-speedster.

When we arrived in the room where Doctor Rockette and Kaldur were supposed to be located in, a woman in a cat mask was slashing at Aqualad with her daggers. She was wearing what seemed to be a short green Vietnamese toga.

Artemis shot an arrow at the woman's left-hand weapon. I used my whip to grab onto her right-hand dagger.

I held the dagger on my hand, taunting the enemy. "If I were you, I wouldn't move."

Artemis took my words as a signal to advance, and zeroed in on her target. I tightened my hold on my white whip when all that the woman did was chuckle in amusement at us, "This gig's getting interesting."

Aqualad stood up from where he had fallen on the ground after a hit from the enemy. Him and I got ready to strike when the woman took out a sword from her back pocket.

Artemis was quicker to react than us, shooting arrow after arrow that the woman deflected with ease. It was like she knew exactly what move Artemis was going to make next. It gave me an increasing sense of unease.

Kid sped into the room with Miss Martian flying close behind him. When the strange woman looked at the two new members that had come in, she decided that she had been outnumbered. "Maybe a little too interesting."

The woman threw a smoke pellet down, and Kid jumped, trying to catch her, but he only landed on top of Artemis after the woman had vanished completely.

She was fast, maybe even quicker than Robin was.

"She's getting away! You're letting her get away!" Doctor Rockette shouted at us.

"This is all _your _fault!" Kid accused Artemis. "You were on perimeter, how did that shadow get in?"

I roughly turned Wally around, making him face away from Artemis' powerful glare. "Miss Martian and I were here with her, too!"

M'Gann nodded, "Yeah, it's not really fair. The three of us were outside together."

Kid spluttered a lame excuse, "Yeah! Outside…being distracted by her! Besides, I can't be mad at you two…"

If I hadn't been angry with him for blaming Artemis for something she didn't have any control over, I might have hugged him.

M'Gann tried comforting Artemis, "I didn't do half as good in my first battle, and I know you can't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for too long."

I nodded, "You're doing better than expected. Wally's just upset about Arrow."

"Focus, everyone!" Aqualad commanded us. "The Shadows will be back."

I heard Kaldur's comm unit echo with Robin's voice. The Fog had reached a Star Labs facility already. They were too late; now, they were supposed to relocate where the Fog was targeting next.

"We're moving the doctor." Kaldur turned to the four of us, and we started packing up Doctor Rockette's necessary equipment.

We decided to move into a house that was not in use tonight; it would be a temporary location just to locate the Fog. Kid, Artemis, and I had been assigned to guard the inside of the house with Doctor Rockette.

I couldn't figure out why Wally disliked Artemis so much, they were still glaring at each other!

Suddenly, a man on a black spider suit pirouetted into the inside of the room we were in. Instantly I lashed out my whip at him, but he avoided me with a disturbing grace.

Him and I engaged in close combat, and I deflected his every blow. This man was moving so quickly that I barely had any room for going into the offense myself. I managed to sneak a kick to his face that disoriented him for a few second, and it was enough for me to punch him the face.

I was really just attempting to break his nose.

"Martian's here!" The woman with the mask shouted. "It's now or never!"

The black spider jumped out of the way of my fist, trying to shoot on of his spider webs at me. I moved away just in time, but the man kicked my spine, almost successfully breaking it.

I fell down on the floor, in a stoic shock. That black spider had sneaked in a better kick than should have been possible with that much momentum. I groaned in pain, I couldn't get up without my back searing up.

_If you're alive, then you're all right. _

I gave one last heaving grunt, and pushed myself off the ground just in time to hear the masked woman gasp in surprise. "We've been duked!"

I smirked. M'Gann had shape shifted herself to resemble Doctor Rockette, the real doctor was in a café far enough from here that no one would suspect that she was located there.

The assassin escaped from the building, Artemis and I hot on her heels. She couldn't get away from us, she had already demonstrated to be a dangerous threat to our mission.

We both ran out of the room at the same pace, which was a miracle for me with my shorter legs. I shouted to Artemis, "Shoot! _Shoot!" _

Artemis notched an arrow on her bow, stopping for a second, and shot at the woman who deflected the arrow before it had even come close to her.

"I was hoping it'd be you! Oh, and did you bring a friend with you? I would think you were getting too old for these type of games!" The woman exclaimed cockily.

I frowned, "Artemis, what is she talking about?" But Artemis just shook her head in as much confusion as I was in.

We ran toward her again, and jumped onto the roof of a building, quickly flipping in the air, and landing on the roof of one of the lower ceiling houses. I threw a smoke pellet at the woman as she stopped to look at us, and instantly, the woman gagged and fell down on the tiled roof.

She pretended to be unconscious before taking Artemis and I off our feet. "The mask has built-in filters."

Artemis and I stood up with amazing speed, and we soon took our fighting stances. We threw punches out, but the woman was much stronger than us by age and experience. She quickly defeated us, even if we outnumbered her.

She knocked Artemis unconscious while she left me with a very bruised back. Her hits on me did not help the fact that the black spider had tried to break my spine, so I was left with a back so bruised that it was hard for me to fight.

Did the world _want _me to get an injury every time we went on a mission?

Artemis groaned, and I could see her eyes starting to flutter open. I grunted, trying to straighten my back.

"Artemis…you need to wake up." I muttered, shaking the blond girl. "The assassin is getting away!"

At last, Artemis startled herself awake and stood up in a blur of green and blond. When she noticed that my back had been bruised terribly, her grey eyes widened, and she scampered over to me. "We have to get you down."

I shook my head, "The priority is the mission."

"Before your _life?_" Artemis shouted at me, and told me no again, more firmly this time. "We're getting you down from here."

So, with me clinging on to Artemis' arms, we went down. Just in time too, because as soon as I was on the sidewalk, Artemis went running toward the retreating form of the masked woman.

I hung limply behind, but started making my way toward the café where I had watched as Artemis let the woman disappear. That woman's mask had been knocked out of her face, and she reminded me a lot of Artemis' sister. She had shown me the only picture she had of them both.

Maybe that was why Artemis let the woman go, because that was Jade.

I groaned in pain as a new wave of raw feelings came shivering up my spine. I needed to get to the medical bay, and fast.

I saw Aqualad walking out with Doctor Rockette. He was leaning on her. "Artemis, what happened to the assassin?"

"She, uh, she got away." Artemis looked down in shame.

"Whoa, from you? What a big surprise!" Kid sped into the scene. "Noticed we got ours?"

I glared at Wally, "Cut the attitude, Kid Mouth."

The speedster's eyes widened, "What happened to your back?"

I avoided the worried look he was giving me; it was one of his puppy-eyed looks. "The black spider man hit me on the back earlier, and then the assassin hit me again. It hurts, but I'll be alright."

Wally nodded, unsure of my answer, but the mask on the side of the road gained his attention. "Cool, souvenir!"

"Did you—" Aqualad grunted as he took out the darts on his chest. "—See her face?"

"No, I didn't…It was too dark!" Artemis whipped up a quick excuse, but I knew very well that she had seen the woman's face.

"It is fine. Robin and Superboy neutralized the Fog." Kaldur informed us. "And Doctor Rockette is safe. Thanks to a small part from you."

Artemis turned to us in hesitation. "Welcome to the Team." He said at last. Artemis gave us one small smile of gratitude, and we all moved in to form a circle around her.

"This is great! I always wanted a sister, on Earth I mean, and now I've got two." M'Gann looked at both Artemis and I with one of the warmest of grins.

Wally shook hands with Artemis begrudgingly, but he did it nevertheless. I think that was all that truly mattered, they were actually starting to warm up to each other. That was one very important thing.

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**Mount Justice**

** August 9, 01: 12 EDT**

I screamed out in shrilling pain as the doctor finished revising my back, and placing it back to normal.

Tears welled in my eyes, "Thank you." I muttered to the doctor as she nodded, and left me alone with Dick, M'Gann, and Superboy.

I had been holding both of Dick and M'Gann's hands throughout the whole procedure while Superboy stood on my right side, giving me reassuring looks.

"If you're alive, you're alright." Robin patted my head. "It only took the doc forty minutes to be done. I think that's a pretty whelming job."

I gave him a toothy grin, "You have a point there."

M'Gann and Superboy shared a short look, and they gave each other abrupt nods. "Are you fine now, Diana?"

I assured her, "I feel fine. No more hurting of the back, just some soreness."

Superboy answered this time, "We have to go to sleep. It's late." M'Gann followed the clone out of the room, both of them walking in an almost mischievous silence. "Uh, get better."

I shook my head in surprise, but then smirked. "Who knew Superboy could lighten up?"

Robin only smiled at me, and took my hand in his. He started to play with my fingers, bending them backward and forward one at a time. I rolled my eyes at him and his ridiculous shows of affection. Instead of saying out loud when he was relieved that someone was alive, he preferred to show the person how joyful he really was.

We stayed like this for what seemed like an eternity, and I knew what I was talking about, I had powers that could stop or slow down time, after all.

Dick brought my fingers up to his face, and squeezed my hand just a little tighter. He sighed, "The doctor said you needed rest, and no much moving of the body." I nodded. "You're going to have to stay here."

I gave him a huge yawn, "Honestly, I don't mind. I'm too tired to care about where I'm sleeping."

Dick gave me a tender gaze. "I could stay here, with you, if you'd like."

I gave him an airy laugh, throwing my head back. "You're so sweet sometimes, but no thanks, I can take care of myself."

Dick shook his head in amusement. "I know you can. I've known you long enough." He stood up from his placement of the chair and scooped me up the bed just a tiny bit. He moved me over to the side of the hospital bed, and laid down next to me.

"I said you didn't have to stay with me."

"Since you can't move, you can't push me out. You're going to have to put up with me for the night."

"What about Batman?"

"I already told him I was staying here tonight."

"You sneaky little—"

"Shush. Just enjoy the moment."


	11. Downtime

**We reached 2,000 views today, guys! Wow, and it hasn't been a month yet. Can I just say, thank you to you all that have been reviewing my story so much. On every single new chapter, you guys reviewed, and I could not be more thankful. I now have a new goal, to reach 50 reviews in the next month, and if we can, 60 reviews! **

* * *

**Gotham City**

** August 27, 06: 17 EDT**

I panted as I evaded Clayface's muddy punches. I could hear Superboy's raging shouts, and feel Kid Flash speeding behind me. Robin grunted in pain, and it was soon followed by Miss Martian's cries.

I whirled around, turning to Clayface just in time to see him let M'Gann and Dick slump down on the floor with loud thuds. My eyes widened in realization of what he'd done, both of my friends were unconscious.

I could feel my face contorting in anger, and I took out my laser, pointing it at Clayface. I wanted to make the laser puncture every single piece of mud hanging on him, but I knew that if I did that, I would be risking the chance of hitting one of my teammates.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance when Clayface growled loudly, and came toward me, preparing himself to engage into battle with me. I got into a jumping position, and when Clayface was close enough for me to reach out to him, I flipped over him. I landed behind his greasy back.

"You want to fight?" I taunted him. "I'll give you a fight."

I grabbed my whip out of its placement on my utility belt, and lashed out at the monster. One, two, three, and four times I tried hitting him. I was able to hit my target all those times, but I couldn't do much damage.

I saw Aqualad jumping up on Clayface's back, and tried electrocuting him. Clayface started wriggling to get free, and in the process, he slapped me with such force it flew me across the room. My body hit one of the concrete walls, and I could only fall forward on my face. I was as unconscious as Miss Martian, Robin, and now, Superboy were.

How long was I out? I wasn't entirely sure, but I calculated that it was something between thirty to fifty minutes.

When I finally regained my senses, I could feel my body being carried out into a cool breeze bellowing from my right. I tried opening up my eyes, and after a few failed attempts, they fluttered up.

Superboy's strong arms were carrying me out of Miss Martian's bioship. Batman held Robin, Flash had Kid's arm wrapped around his shoulders for support, and Martian Manhunter held a limping M'Gann.

All of us, but the exception of Superboy and Kaldur, looked pretty beaten up. Let me guess, this meant another trip to the to the medical bay. I was getting sick of that place, and that was the comical irony.

"Thank you." I looked up at Superboy's clear blue eyes.

He nodded, "Are you, you know, okay?"

"Just peachy." I gave the clone a faint smile.

That's where the conversation ended. I was glad Superboy cared enough to try and start conversation, to attempt to find out how I felt; I thought it was just the kind of sweetness an older brother gave you.

When I gave Superboy the signal that I could start walking on my own now, that I could finally feel my legs, he let go of me.

My legs wobbled just a bit first, but I tried stabilizing them before anyone noticed anything and came to my aid. I didn't need their help right now; I had burdened everyone enough by having to look over my unconscious state.

When we reached the entrance of the Cave, we all hurried into the zeta beams. I could feel a grim silence settling upon the Team.

Aqualad had informed us about how Batman came into our aid after everyone had been knocked unconscious except him, though he had been very close, too. It was shameful, a Leaguer had to intervene with our mission, but there was nothing more we could do about it.

_'Recognized: Robin B01. _

_ Aqualad: B02_

_Kid Flash: B03_

_Timeless: B04_

_Superboy: B05_

_Miss Martian: B06'_

As soon as we all appeared inside of the Cave, I was enveloped in Dinah's sweet-smelling blue jacket. "Thank goodness you're okay! I received a message from Batman telling me you were _unconscious! _Do you know how terrified I was?"

I tittered, "Mom, I'm fine! I've been unconscious a lot of times. Look, I got out of it alive, that's all that matters."

Dinah knew I was right, of course. Being alive until my twentieth birthday was a mission both her and I were trying to accomplish together, even if we never discussed it out loud.

It didn't matter how battered I got, how many punches I received, and how much suffering I had to endure. All that really counted was if I was alive until the next day.

I let go of Dinah, and the Team stood in an unorganized line, awaiting Batman's criticism on our performance.

"I need to talk to Aqualad." Batman announced. "The rest of you hit the showers and head home."

The last sentence surprised me, wasn't he going to give us a mission debrief like always?

I could hear Batman muttering a strict, "just Aqualad," behind me. I instantly knew who he was talking to, and my guess was confirmed when I felt a presence hurry to match my walking speed.

I placed a hand on Robin's shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Wonder Boy."

He sighed, and hung his head up to face the ceiling. "Whatever you say, D."

I barely encountered a situation where Dick was discouraged by Bruce's actions toward him, no matter what happened between them, they were inseparable.

Batman and Robin were the dynamic duo; they would go to interrogations and attend meetings together. I could tell that Dick has been feeling insecure about how him not being leader might affect his relationship with Bruce.

It was a silly insecurity, but I would never tell him that, just because I'd felt a similar way with Dinah before.

I gave Robin's arm a light squeeze. "You two have always been and will always be inseparable. I don't think the day will ever come where I'll see you both get into a situation that you can't fix."

Robin shook his head in amusement. "You know my thoughts way too well for it to be natural. Are you sure you don't have a super power for reading emotions?"

I gave him a breezy laugh. "I've checked. Believe me, no other powers other than time manipulation."

We ended the conversation there, as we both had to part to get to our different shower rooms. I would admit it to myself even; I had an unnaturally strong intuitive sense when it came to Dick. It might have been for the fact that I've known him longer than any of my friends, but I could never be entirely sure whenever it came to Dick.

I walked into the shower room, and waved at M'Gann as I passed by her. I quickly undressed, and turned the showerhead on.

"What a night!" I sighed contently as the hot water hit me. "I'm just glad we get to go home, even if it's a little weird not doing debriefs." I put shampoo on my hair, and massaged my head.

I could hear M'Gann let out an airy chuckle. "I know how you're feeling. My uncle J'onn and I have been going around the world on my bioship for training. I'm glad to be getting a rest."

"We all deserve a good night's sleep tonight." I let out a huge yawn as I applied conditioner next.

"Especially Wally, in my opinion. He's been complaining all week about how Flash is making him complete nine laps around the world every day." I heard the second showerhead stop letting the water run down.

I turned off the water shortly after M'Gann. "Wally is just being a baby. I've known him for a very long time, he can do fifteen laps around the world four days in a row without tiring out."

I saw M'Gann roll her eyes. "Oh, Wally."

I put on a jean skirt with a white shirt, and smirked at the Martian. "He wants to get your attention and affection." M'Gann cringed jokingly, and we both burst out laughing as we walked out of the shower room.

I saw Dick and Wally playing rock, scissors, and paper in front of the joint lockers. When Wally won, using paper to envelop Dick's rock, he nudged the younger boy toward our direction.

M'Gann gave me a mischievous wink, leaving me for her to find Superboy, and I could tell that she was in the joke, too.

"So, Diana," Dick rarely called me by my full first name. "I realized one very important thing…"

I raised my eyebrow at him, "And what is that important thing?"

Dick smiled sheepishly at me. "You're hot."

I stood in silence for a few seconds as I let that comment seep it. I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up, but I soon covered the red blush by glaring at Wally. "Stop making Rob do these types of dares. They're not funny."

Wally covered his chortles by placing a hand over his mouth. "Whatever—Whatever you say, Diana!"

I rolled my eyes at the speedster, and turned to Dick. "I'm going to go find Dinah and go home."

Suddenly, Dick's face turned to a slight panic and embarrassment. "Uh, actually, D…I was hoping that you could spent the night at my house. We could swim in the pool, see a movie…you know, the normal stuff."

I could feel a smirk start to grow on my face. "Alright, Wonder Boy, I'll go ask my mom if I can stay over." Then I leaned close to his face. "There's only one bed in your room, though, and I don't want to sleep alone."

When I pulled away I could see him go redder than I expected him to, and that just added an extra bounce on my step as I left to see Dinah. I skipped around the Cave, my skirt swinging from left to right in a hypnotic rhythm.

I reached Dinah just in time to see her packing up. "You want to order Chinese tonight?"

I brushed a loose brown strand of hair behind my ear, "Actually, I was wondering if I could go over to Robin's house. He invited me over tonight."

Dinah paused her actions, and turned to me with a knowing smile. "Have fun with him. Don't do anything that I wouldn't do at your age."

I grinned, and raised my arms up to give her a tight hug. "Thanks, mom. Tomorrow we're spending the whole day together, though."

I left the room, hurrying over to where I last saw the other thirteen year old in the Team. I found him sprawled over on the locker room's long bench. His longer frame took up one third of the metal seat, and I realized how truly tall he'd gotten in the span of almost two months.

Males and their spontaneous growth spurts.

I grabbed the red Olympics' bag from my locker, and sat down next to Dick's torso. "Alright, Wonder Boy. I'll come with you."

I could see from the corner of my eye that Dick had a goofy grin on. "What are we waiting for, then? Let's go!"

He startled me up, and together we rushed over the zeta beams. "Why are we in such a hurry?"

"I want to spend some alone time." He turned to me, and winked. I felt my cheeks heating up in realization of what he was suggesting. "Just you and me."

"Clean your mouth with soap, and get those dirty thoughts out of your brain." I slapped his arm. "They're not going to get you anywhere."

Dick just let out a breezy cackle and slung his arm around my shoulders as the zeta beam transported us to a dumpster in Gotham City. Out of all the places that Bruce could have chosen for the zeta beams to leave us, he _had_ to choose a dumpster.

"We should go to that Waffle House that's open twenty-four/ seven." I spoke up, wrapping my arm around Dick's waist. "I haven't eaten in about six hours. I'm starving!"

Dick squeezed my shoulders, "Whatever you say, D."

I tried pressing my nose closer to his neck in an attempt to block out the smell of rotten eggs and dirty socks. I felt Dick's chest vibrate up and down in my failing mission. I could still smell the dead fish.

I cringed in disgust, and Dick released a new wave of laughter. I was so relieved when we got out of the dumpster that I threw my head back and joined in with the cackles.

As we walked down Gotham City's pavement, we got lasting looks from some of the older men and women. A mother and a father had even stopped us once to tell us about how cute we seemed all wrapped up with each other.

That comment just made us look at each other, our faces red, and let out embarrassed chuckles. Dick assured them that we weren't really together, but we were close friends.

"Really? Well, it doesn't seem like it." The mother answered before the couple walked off with smirks on their faces.

"That was awkward." Dick smiled down at me.

"No kidding." I rolled my eyes with a grin.

We soon reached the Waffle House, and we entered to let in the air conditioning wash over us in waves. We were soon seated, the waiter's eyes widening as he recognized the local millionaire's adoptive son, Dick Grayson.

Dick and I looked at each other as we sat across from the other, and nodded in agreement. We didn't need to talk; we already knew that we were going to share a plate of five waffles.

"You know what I noticed?" Dick asked as he gave our menus to the waiter. I shook my head in confusion. "We haven't hung out in almost a week!"

My tapped my chin, "Really? That seems like much more time than how it felt like."

Dick nodded, "I know! We hang out almost everyday, you know, with seeing each other at school and going to our extra curricular activities. No wonder this week seemed less whelming than usual."

I brushed the brown hair out of my face, "Hmm, now that you mention it…Yeah, it seemed less _asterous _than normal."

Dick smiled at me, "Tomorrow, the day after that, and most of the days after that we're going to be hanging out together. I want to make up for the lost time."

"Can we go fishing, then?" I questioned him, a tentative look on my face.

"Uh, fishing?" Dick repeated. "Why would you want to go fishing? You just wait around for hours on a boat."

"Never tried it." I shrugged in response.

Dick's lips widened to a teasing smirk, "All right. We'll go fishing, Miss Boredom."

I glared at him, "Do you _really _want to get into this argument, Bird Brain?"

Luckily, before Dick could reply, the waiter came with our drinks and waffles on a tray. Instantly, I heard my stomach let out an unnecessarily loud growl.

The waiter looked at me with wide eyes, "I don't think I took that long in serving the food to you!"  
I sucked in my stomach to stop it from growling, "I haven't eaten in _six hours! _I have an excuse!"

Dick rolled his eyes, "Just set down the plate in front of her, please."

As soon as the waiter left I looked up from my waffles to find the maple syrup and the sugar. I sprinkled in as much from both as I could handle without going into an extreme sugar rush.

I looked at Dick, daring him to challenge my authority with the condiments on the waffles. He slowly, and sneakily took one of the waffles out of my pile, the one with the most sugar and syrup.

I slapped his hand away, and gave him the second waffle on the pile, taking the one in his position for myself.

"Talk about being selfish." Dick muttered.

"Excuse me, Bird Boy? I can rip your head off with this fork." I threatened him.

Dick snickered, "As if you would ever hurt me!"

I smirked, "You want to test that theory?"

Instantly Dick's eyes widened in realization. I was being serious here. I could rip his head off with a fork, and in less than ten minutes, too. He started wolfing down his waffles to not have to answer me.

"I didn't think so." I squeezed his cheek before eating my own food.

We were done with our food after only twenty minutes, but we stayed an extra thirty chatting about nothing in particular. We switched topics from the Team, to music, and to what we'd been doing this past week that we weren't together.

I still found it odd that we had barely seen each other lately. I missed Dick's quirky remarks like whelming and turbed.

When we thought it had gotten pretty late, it was eight o'clock, and that we should call Alfred to pick us up to go to the manor if we wanted to watch at least three movies, we left the restaurant.

We had told Alfred that we would meet him in front of the Waffle House, but we deduced that he would take about thirty minutes to come pick us up, so we went for a stroll.

It probably wasn't a smart idea to walk around the streets of Gotham City at night, but we didn't really care.

Why would we when we could kick any criminal's butts?

Soon enough, there was a scream that echoed all around us. The civilians just looked at each other in guilt and dread, but since it happened so often here in Gotham, they didn't do anything about the obvious girl's plea for help.

Dick and I nodded in agreement.

Without alerting anyone that we were up to anything, we quickly walked the opposite direction of everyone; they were running away from the shout. A man looked at us as if we were crazy, but we didn't meet his eyes.

We were on a mission, and nothing was going to stop either of us.

When there weren't any other people around the certain spot of the road where there came another shriek, Dick put on his sunglasses in an attempt to hide his identity.

I took out my whip, and Dick took out his birdarangs. We ran down an alleyway where we found six silhouettes. Five men, three big and burly, one extremely skinny, and the other normal sized, were surrounding a girl in the middle.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"We just want your money!"

"Mwah, mwah!"

Instantly, my skin prickled with goose bumps and I ran toward the girl they were harassing. "Hey! Over here!"

The men turned to me and the apparent leader smirked, "What's this, more money? Ooh, and she has quite the nice body, too!"

I growled deep in my throat and moved to punch the lights out of the older man. Before I could knock him out, though, the light brown haired girl sneaked a punch on his ribs, and gave him a kick.

Together, her and I, we kicked and punched at the five men. I decided to let the girl get her revenge and lash out at three of the men while I took out two. Dick just watched us from afar, and I could tell that he was quietly cackling from his spot.

He knew we didn't need his help. I appreciated that.

When everyone was on the floor, unconscious, I turned to the girl. She stood in the middle of the men, furiously panting. Her light green eyes held a deadly spark on them, like she knew she could knock out anyone who messed with her.

I believed she could do it.

"You okay?" I placed a hand on her shoulder. "You _were _almost stolen from, and maybe even…you know."

The girl seemed to be about my age so she nodded, understanding what I meant. "I'm fine. Thanks for the help. If you hadn't arrived when you did, well, this alley would have held a lot of memories for me!"

I smiled at her attempt to lighten up the situation. "What's your name?"

"I'm Katie. What's yours?"

I hesitated for a moment, "I'm Diana."

"Well, Diana. It's been nice knocking five men unconscious with you, but I got to get going. My mom is going to get worried if I don't arrive soon. Thanks for all the help! Tell your friend that he's lazier than me. He didn't help us at all!" Katie rolled her eyes before hurrying out of the alley; her small height didn't let her travel that far.

I walked over to Dick, "We should get going, too, Lazy Bum. Alfred is going to come pick us up soon."

Dick rolled his eyes, "I wasn't being _lazy. _I was letting you two get your revenge on the men who were trying to harass you."

I smirked, "Sure you were, Bird Boy. Whatever you say."

We walked side by side in silence back to the Waffle House. I was wondering if Katie was going to get into more trouble tonight, if she was going to be safe. I now knew she could take care of herself, though. She demonstrated that enough.

"Master Richard, Miss Crane. Where were you?" Alfred spoke up from his spot next to the small limousine.

"We, uh, ran into some trouble." Dick smirked, winking at me jokingly.

"Nothing to worry about, Alfred." I shrugged, returning the wink.

Alfred smiled knowingly at us, "I'm glad you returned safe, then."

The three of us got into the car, and Alfred drove away to Wayne Manor. Dick and I made small talk during the ride, but we were mostly looking out of the window.

At one point, Dick leaned his head on my shoulder. When I looked down at him, his eyes were closed and his breathing was even. He had fallen asleep. Something about the way of how the boy who could kill anyone with just two punches sleeping peacefully, and looking so innocent, was amazing.

He looked like his parent's death hadn't happened, like he never got any special training from the best detective in the world, and like he'd never gotten hurt.

It was nice to watch him in such a childlike state.

"Miss Crane, may I ask you something?" Alfred looked in my eyes through the rearview mirror. I nodded. "Do you like Master Dick?"

I looked down at the raven-haired boy leaning onto me, "You probably know the answer to that already. You're a very smart man, Alfred."

"You do fancy him, then. I believe you two should be together." Alfred smiled.

"You know his feelings almost better than anyone. He doesn't feel the same." I looked away and into the night sky.

I could hear the smile still on Alfred's face, "If it makes you feel any better, Miss Crane, I believe you two would be perfect for the other."

I sighed, and a sad grin broke out. "Thanks, Alfred."

We rode in silence after that short conversation. I knew that my feelings were safe with Alfred. He would never tell anyone unless I asked him to do it.

When we drove past the Wayne Manor's gates and got into the spacious garage, I begrudgingly tapped Dick's face. He moved slightly, but it was just to snuggle closer to my neck.

I could feel my face start to heat up as his breath started tickling my collarbone. I let out an airy chuckle to try and calm my nerves, "Dick, common. We're here. You need to wake up!"

"Just a little while longer." Dick muttered without opening his eyes.

I smirked, "There's no '_little while longer_'! You invited _me _here. You have to play a good host and show me to my room and all that."

Dick groaned, and wrapped his arms around my back. "You've been here more times than I can count. You know your way around the manor, and all. We can get to that later, though. I just want to sleep now."

"You do know that you can go and sleep in your room, right?"

"Just a little while longer."

A hesitant silence filled the car. I could see Alfred giving me a wink from where he stood outside of the garage.

_Stay there for as long as you want. Turn off the car when you get out. _Alfred mouthed and went away, probably about to tell Bruce about my current situation with Dick.

I sighed, "Fine, then. We can stay this way just a little longer. Please be a gentleman, though, and let my head lean on _your _shoulder. Not the other way around."

Dick chuckled and moved his head away, and I situated myself on his shoulder. Soon enough, he rested his head on mine.

I liked this. I liked when we got like this. When we got so very close to each other, but never too close.

It left my heart pumping, and by head whirling in affection toward this boy. It was times like this when I sometimes thought that Dick liked me the way that I did him.

Then again, my insecurities would eat up that significant thought.

I hated my insecurities.


	12. Bereft

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character or scene that appears in Young Justice. I own the character, Diana Crane and her whole story (including parents). All associations or similarities to Diana Crane are completely coincidential. I also own any of the scenes that do not occur in Young Justice.**

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**Bialya **

** September 4, 16:02 EST**

There was something soft below me. It was supporting me, and I could have sworn it was a bed. But if it was a bed, then why didn't it have a pillow? Why did it not smell like my room? What happened to its vanilla scented air freshener?

Was the air conditioner on thirty-five degrees Celsius? It was scorching hot out!

I gasped as my eyes shot open in a panicked hurry to find the answers for all those questions roaming in my mind. My eyes quickly locked on the foreign sight of the setting sun looking down on me. What I thought had been my bed was actually soft sand dunes. I was definitely not in my room.

That would explain why I didn't have a pillow under my head.

I stood up in a flurry of the black and grey in my costume that intolerably stood out in between all the sand. Wait a second, black and grey? My costume is _white _and grey! Why was in my super hero uniform? Better yet, what happened to me?

I couldn't remember a thing, not a single thing.

There was nothing inside my brain that could help me figure out why I was in the middle of an unknown desert in a darker version of my uniform with no one around me. I could feel my heart starting to race and my breath come out raggedly. I tried calming down as much as I could.

I couldn't let myself panic, not even if I wanted to.

Okay, I needed to gather my thoughts and make a plan. There were some rocks around the areawhere I stood, all of them coated in a thick layer of sand. There was barely any vegetation, so that meant no water. I had my utility belt filled with explosives, and my whip.

Still. No. Water.

I was about to go scouting for any other human facilities or possible food sources when I saw a small cloud of sand moving toward me. My eyes widened, and in a hurry to get out of sight, I jumped up on one the closest rock to my right.

I tried blending in with the background and crouched down low, and lucky me; Batman had partly given me my training, kudos to him and his stealth.

The car that passed me by bore the insignia of the Bialya Republic Army. The men had guns resting on their shoulders, and I realized something very important.

"What the heck am I doing in Bialya?"

My voice sounded groggy, probably from the lack of use. I didn't really care at that moment because, seriously, the more important question was how did I even get to Bialya? I could only recall going to Smoothie King with Dinah, Ollie, and Roy.

Did I get a memory loss? If I did, which was the most probable answer at this point, then how much range did my amnesia cover? Did I forget just a few days, months, or years? I quickly counted off the fact that years could have passed since my body looked pretty much the same as it had during March second.

My muscles had toned just a bit more under the costume, but even that was barely visible with all the clothing.

I realized that my ear had a communicator resting on it, and was making a move to radio one of the Leaguers when I remembered something. Batman had told us to keep radio silence at all times. What for? I had no idea, but I wasn't about to question the only memory that I had of this presumed mission.

If Batman had sent us here then it must have been for a good reason. I don't think the erasing of my memory was part of the plan, though, that just didn't seem like Bruce's way of handling things.

It could have been Green Lantern's idea though. That seemed like the type of thing he would be laughing at from the Watchtower.

I jumped down from the rock, and sat down with my back resting on it. This was all so messed up. I had forgotten my memory, I was in Bialya, and I wasn't entirely sure for how long I'd been here.

Who had wiped my memory, anyway?

I looked around; the oranges of the sky contrasting the sand dunes should have beautiful. They should have been magnificent, even, but I couldn't bring myself to even half-heartedly enjoy the view. There were too many questions roaming in and out of my mind, some worse than others.

Wait, if Batman had given me some advice for this mission, did that mean that Robin was here, too?

It _would _make sense if both him and I, maybe with Kid Flash, Aqualad or Speedy, were all sent on a mission together. Black Canary, Green Arrow, Batman, Aquaman, and Flash could have sent us all on an errand. It had been happening often, that our mentors would try to ready us for being part of the Justice League with small missions.

They had never sent us out of the country, though, and to Saudi Arabia much less! That was way too far away from the United States. Nothing added up completely. Every time that I thought I had the answer to one of my questions, logic completely ruled out that idea.

Suddenly a loud boom echoed dangerously close to where I stood. I staggered back in surprise, standing in front of a large crater surrounded by sand dust. A boy erupted from the crater, his eyes were blue and his hair jet-black, and he looked an awful lot like Superman.

His eyes held a fierce animal look, and I could only reach for my whip in case that our little staring contest came to an end. Soon enough, the boy came barreling toward me in a horribly loud shout that resounded through the area. He reminded me of an actual savage beast, and I could only wonder what a human like him could have gotten done to him to make him be this horrible.

Copy Face, he looked just like Superman so that was his new name, and I engaged into close combat, which soon proofed to be a fatal mistake for me as he pushed me back several meters with super-strength. All right, when did Clark and Lois decide to have a baby?

When I opened my eyes that shielded me from the sand, I could see Copy Face still standing in his previous position before reaching me in one single leap. I cursed under my breath, fighting him would only get me killed, but I didn't want to back down from this obstacle.

It was either death or escape, though.

I begrudgingly stopped time just before the boy could plant a punch on my face. I scampered up from my laying position on the sand and ran away as fast as I could. I skittered through the jagging rock edges, and successfully got away from the boy in record time.

If Wally were here he would compliment me on my running skills when I was surely going to get chased by a super-strengthened human boy who was obviously older than me by a few years.

I ran for quite a few miles in what seemed to be six hours to me, but was surely only two hours.

I stopped a bunch of times to catch my breath in between the running, and even fast-forwarded to the second hour of running to get it all over with. I honestly thought that the boy who had attacked me could have caught up with me even if I ran five miles, so I decided to run the double of the distance for a good measure.

When I returned time back to normal, the sun was already setting down low on the horizon. I fell down on the floor, there were rocks surrounding me again.

I felt exhausted, all the adrenaline having left my body in a rush. I wanted to drink water, to feel the coolness run down my throat, but there wasn't any of that liquid around here. I could only lie down on the sand dunes and hope that I didn't faint.

Why did they have to send me to Bialya? And who was that boy who wanted to kill me? Why did he look so much like Clark? The resemblance had been uncanny!

The boy had Clark's eyes and hair, even his built. The strange thing was that the boy didn't utter a single word to me as we fought, or more like, as he tried pounding me to a pulp. It was almost as if he had been driven by nothing but, well, animal instinct.

"Diana!"

My eyes snapped open, and my body felt a new surge of energy running through its veins. I recognized that voice, and how relieved I was to find out that I wasn't alone.

I turned my head up to where Robin was perched on top of a rock, and as soon as he jumped down, I enveloped him in the tightest hug I had given anyone in my whole life. Dick returned the embrace with as much vigor and strength as I had.

"Dick! Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" I grabbed his face with my hands, and gave him my brightest smile.

"I'm glad to see you, too!" He grinned toothily, and gave me another tight hug before releasing me. "You look terrible. What happened to you?"

I shook my head in disbelief of what I was about to say, "A boy, who looked a lot like Superman, attacked me. He seemed to not be able to do anything but shout at me."

Robin's eyes widened, "He attacked you, too? That guy almost killed me earlier this morning!"

I nodded in apprehension. "Dick, do you have any idea how we got here?" I whispered to him as we moved to sit next to each other behind the rock.

He shook his head, "Not a clue. I got my memory wiped out, and the strangest thing? It's September fourth!"

My eyes widened, "September fourth? What happened to March?"

Dick shook his head again, and we stayed silent, not really knowing what else to say about our current situation. It had gone dark already; just a few strips of light were left on the far horizon. The wind had picked up just a bit, showering me with the dry coolness of the desert.

"How do you think we'll get out of here?" I turned my head to face him.

Dick looked back at me, "We'll figure something out, D. We always do."

I nodded, and stood up slowly, taking my time. Dick and I were in no hurry anymore. We had found each other, another person to share the confusion with, and that was enough for now.

I stretched out my hand for Dick to take, "We should get going. Maybe Speedy, Kid, or Aqualad were sent here, too. I know Speedy can't handle being alone for too long. He'll start freaking out."

Dick chuckled, and took my hand, using my help to get his butt up from the ground. We started walking aimlessly to the south, and we looked out into the horizon. I could only wonder if we were really going to figure something out, or even find Wally or Roy.

An alarming thought crossed my mind; Kaldur wouldn't last very long in a place like this. There wasn't any water close to us.

Then I remembered something else. Maybe no one except us was even here. It would be not use for me to worry about Kaldur if there was the obvious chance that he wasn't even around here.

As a chill passed through me, I scooted closer to Robin, wrapping an arm around his back. He held me close to him, resting his arm on my shoulder. "Everything will be alright, D."

I sighed, "You always say that."

Dick smirked at it, "And isn't it always true?"

That instantly shut me up, and a triumphant look passed across his face. Dick looked at me worriedly when I just looked down toward the sand that crunched under our feet, as we walked nowhere in particular.

"D, we _are _going to be fine."

I forced a grin to envelop my lips, "I know, Dick. As long as we're alive, we're alright?"

Dick gave me a squeeze, "Yeah. As long as you're alive, we're alright."

My raised my eyes to him in alarm and surprise. He didn't repeat my words. He said that as long as _I _was alive, we were both all right. I didn't like the way he put that sentence.

It meant that no matter what happened to him, as long as I lived, he would be fine with anything that came toward him. Even death. I decided not to mention anything to him, in fear that he would only give me a reason for saying those words, but I gave him a look that told him I wasn't fine with his sentence.

Dick only shook his head, giving me a sad but reassuring smile. "You know, I just noticed something." I motioned him to go on. "If dislike is the opposite of like, then is disaster the opposite of aster?"

I gave him a glare for changing the subject, and saying something so silly, "Yeah, it is. Unluckily, for you, it is not a real word."

"It is now!" Dick shrugged, now giving me a real grin.

We kept walking until all morning light faded away from the sky. The stars shone brighter than I had ever seen them, and there were millions of millions of them. It was a beautiful sight, and for the first time today, I let myself enjoy the moment.

A loud beeping erupted from Dick's right arm, which was where his portable computer was always situated on. I raised my eyebrows in excited surprise.

Dick's arm left my shoulders, and he opened the holographic computer screen. The screen showed a map, and instantly, the beeping stopped. "My GPS is picking up a location that I marked. It's not far from here, we just have to walk about two more kilometers and we'll get there."

I nodded, "What did you set a mark on?"

Dick shook his head in confusion, "Memory erased, remember?"

There was so much irony in his sentence that I had the urge to burst out laughing until my insides hurt from contracting so much. The fact that I got reminded, once again, that my memory was completely wiped, just took away most of the humor.

Robin and I walked side by side, our steps seeming more rushed. We didn't speak; there wasn't anything to really talk about. We were both too curious about what he might have put a mark on, and why.

I wanted, more than anything, an answer. This was a very rare moment, the one that I would finally get the answer to something that could help us figure out what was happening.

We were soon only meters away from the location that was marked in red on Robin's computer. "I wish I could remember why I put a GPS marker here…" The boy beside me wondered as we got close enough to see the contraption in between a small crater of rocks.

Both him and I dropped down on the floor, making sure that there weren't any intruders around. "I guess that's why, Wonder Boy."

We scanned the area for clues on any human activities around the area, but there wasn't any. Robin nodded at me, and we both jumped out from behind the rock, landing in the middle of the crater.

Much to our surprise, four armed Bialyan Republican Army members appeared from under the sand and pointed their guns at us.

"Her majesty wants them alive!" One of the men shouted in Arabic. All right, so a queen wants us, and alive. I didn't know if that was good or not.

Robin dropped three smoke pellets in front of us, and we soon engaged in combat as they advance toward us without hesitation.

I took out my whip, and lashed out at one of the men, hitting his back, and then grabbing his gun.

There were soon reinforcements coming toward us, so I decided to stop using my long-range weapon and change tactics.

I hit one of the men with my knee, and punched him in the face for a good measure. He fell down unconscious. Then, I dropkicked another man, making him lie down on the floor unmoving in less than a minute.

I roundhouse kicked two more, and finalized my fighting by pirouetting over two armed guards. As soon as I was behind them, I hit certain key spots and made them drop on the floor, unconscious.

"Enough! Open fire!" One of the men shouted at the rest in the foreign language, and Robin and I had not choice but to flip and run out of range.

Soon enough, though, a black blur came speeding gracefully between the men, taking all of their guns.

I smirked, "Kid, long time no see!"

Wally smiled down at me, "Too long, babe!"

Robin groaned in annoyance, "Less flirting, more fighting!"

We were done knocking unconscious men twice our size double time with Kid's help. We weaved through men, and kicked them with a fierceness that only hope provided us.

When we were almost finished, two armed men came running behind Dick. They were pointing their guns at him in threatening silence.

"Robin!" I got my whip ready to severely hurt the armed soldiers, but an invisible force knocked them unconscious before anyone could do anything else.

A girl appeared floating on top of us, and she reminded me a lot of Martian Manhunter. Her warm brown eyes looked friendly, and she smiled at us in reassurance.

I instantly knew she was one of the good guys.

The remaining soldiers tried running away from us as to not get any severe damage done to their insides. An arrow whizzed past my head, almost cutting a part of my chestnut hair, and it revealed a rope that entangled itself on a soldier's body.

We all looked up at a blond girl, with darker skin, and startling grey eyes that looked down at us as if unsure of what to make out of the two new members of her tiny squad, but then they rested on me and I saw her gaze soften.

I trusted her, too.

I turned to Wally, and ran to get a hug from him. "Oh, Kid! It's so good to see you! I thought Rob and I were alone here for a second there."

Wally laughed, widening his eyes teasingly. "If you two had been left here alone…Man, a lot of things would have happened." He winked at me jokingly.

Robin came to stand beside us with a scowl, "And I don't get to say hi to him, too?"

I rolled my eyes, "Don't get snappy a us _now_, Wonder Boy."

Dick gave us what tried to be a nonchalant shrug, and moved in to greet his second best friend. Emphasis on _second _best friend, just because, I'm his best friend no matter what Wally says.

"Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes!" Robin announced, and we all set to work.

The Martian, whose name was M'Gann, contributed to telling us all most things about who we were. Robin and Kid occasionally threw facts in the conversation, but the archer, Artemis, and I barely said anything. We both didn't remember almost a single thing that had happened these last six months.

"So, we're a team?" I clarified, looking at everyone.

"The five of us, _and _Superboy." M'Gann nodded.

"Then this must be his!" Robin took out a black piece of cloth with the red symbol of Superman imprinted on it.

"Yes!" M'Gann exclaimed. "Did you see him?"

"I think we did!" Artemis realized.

"Angry dude? _Some _teammate! He attacked us!" Wally rolled his eyes.

"He attacked me, too. I think that he was just defending himself, though." I reasoned.

"Timeless is right. He didn't know who we are." Artemis agreed. "I don't know who we are!"

"I remember Batman ordering radio silence." Robin spoke up. "Our team must work for him!"

"Good work, Sherlock Holmes." I rolled my eyes. "I think we all established that about ten minutes ago, though."

Robin flicked my temple in answer to his bafflement, and I rubbed my head, flicking him back.

"How do we know our team doesn't work for _my _mentor?" Wally said cockily, pressing a button in his suit that made it transform from black to yellow and red again. "Whoa!"

I grinned, and pressed the middle of my chest, too. Instantly, my black costume returned back to white and grey. That was relieving. Kid kept testing out his new upgraded costume, which made Artemis' patience run thin.

"We look ridiculous!" She exclaimed, "And quit touching yourself!"

I sighed, "We need our memories back."

Suddenly, I heard M'Gann's voice echo inside of my head. _'To help Superboy.' _

In a flurry of white, we were all suddenly inside what seemed to be a cave made out of crystals. The whole room was tinted purple, and the crystals seemed to be reflecting images of all of us doing different things.

There was Artemis and Wally arguing, Dick and I smiling at each other as we watched a movie on a couch, M'Gann cleaning cake mix off a much calmer Superboy. It was like watching a play, just that we were the stars of it.

"I brought you into my mind to share whatever memories I have," M'Gann appeared in front of us, "But I need your help. Together our broken memories can form a whole if you open your minds to mine."

"You want to go through our private thoughts?" Artemis panicked. I didn't know why, though. It didn't seem like such a bad idea.

"I have no reason to intrude but—"

"You need to hack our minds to find out what happened to us, got it, go!" Robin started getting impatient.

"My brain is all yours! Try to not let its brilliance overwhelm you." Wally teased.

"Or _under_whelm you!" I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin asked all of a sudden.

I poked his side, "Focus, Robin!"

I saw Wally take Artemis' hand, as she still seemed hesitant to let M'Gann look into her brain, "Last six months only, and _only _what you need!"

M'Gann nodded, and, as if a wave had crashed on top of me, all of my memories came rushing over me. There was Batman telling us about objects non-terrestrial in Bialya, and that were to covertly investigate. I remembered Robin and I looking through binoculars, scanning the perimeter.

We saw a site created by the Bialyan army, and then the scene shifted to a voice telling us to set up a machine there. Soon enough, Robin set up the machine to work, and then Aqualad told M'Gann to be careful as she went to go investigate the non-terrestrial signals the machine was detecting.

All at once, the memories stopped flowing and we all realized in panic, "Aqualad!"

"Where is he? What happened next?" Robin questioned M'gann.

"I don't know!" She answered. "That's the last thing we remember!"

I saw Artemis and Wally's hands detach in embarrassment, and I couldn't help but smirk, I told her they would make a cute couple. "We landed here twenty-four hours ago. That can't be good for a guy with gills!"

"Now that I know to look for him," Robin opened his computer, "He's close! But he's not moving…"

My breath went ragged, making me feel light-headed. "We have to find him! We have to do something! What if he's…" I didn't dare finish my sentence.

"Don't worry, D." Robin placed a hand on my shoulder. "We'll find him. Follow me!"

So, we ran after Robin, following his trusty GPS. When we got to Kaldur, I was almost shocked to find him in the state that he was in.

I've always known Kaldur to be the levelheaded leader of us all, and the calm voice of reason whenever we got into fights. Watching him wriggle in desperation and muttering profanities in Atlantian. It was the complete opposite of him.

I didn't like it.

We brought him over to the site where the machine stood up, and laid him down there to rest. We were all quite unsure of what to do with him.

"I can't restore his memories in this condition." M'Gann announced to us, sitting down with Kaldur on her lap.

"He needs to get rehydrate immediately!" I exclaimed worriedly.

"Call the bioship!" Robin announced beside me.

"It's out of range." M'Gann turned to Wally. "But you can get him there fast!"

"He's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel." Kid shook his head, pointing at Artemis. "Right now, I couldn't even carry her!"

Artemis scuffed, and shoved him away from her. "Why not just levitate him back?"

"I can't." M'Gann set Kaldur down on the sand. "I have to find Superboy! Six months ago he didn't _exist, _he has no memory, just animal impulse! I'm the only one who can help him."

"Superboy is indestructible, just ask those tanks!" Wally reasoned. "It's Aqualad who needs your help! Like, now!"

Suddenly, M'Gann held her head and cringed in searing pain. "_No! _Superboy's in pain!"

"M'Gann! Wait!"

"We still don't know who erased our memories! It could happen again!"

I would have stopped time. I would have done anything possible to make sure that Kaldur would make it out alive, but I knew how M'Gann felt. Having the one you love most being in pain…you need to help them no matter what.

I looked at Dick, "We have to get him to the bioship. Let's move."

The four of us built a makeshift bed to carry Aqualad on as we dragged on through the desert night. We let Robin lead us, as he was the one who had the GPS with the bioship's marked location.

In the middle of our little walk to find the ship, we stopped, listening intently to a shrill sound coming not too far away from us. "Quick! Over there!" Robin commanded us, and he pushed my back slightly to make sure I got behind the rock in time.

As soon as we were hidden, a Bialyan Army car passed by us, and Kaldur decided to choose that time to mutter more Atlantian profanities. He muttered something about Tula, and instantly my senses sparked up.

A few months back, Kaldur had told me about his love for a girl named Tula back in Atlantis. He said that when he left for the surface world, he had been so sure about being Aqualad, but three months later, he had second thoughts about leaving the ocean.

He had come to me for help, for advice, and I had provided him with some. It had helped him since he had decided to stay walking on Earth, even though his heart was swimming in the ocean.

I stroked his forehead, "Shh…It's alright, Kaldur. She's fine."

"We can't risk a firefight with Aqualad like this!" Robin turned to us after surveying how many men were on the other side of the rock.

"It's not just him," Wally sighed, "I'm way out of juice!"

"And I'm almost out of arrows!" Artemis counted her number of weapons.

Robin looked at me, "Just make sure they don't start fighting, and look after Kaldur, please."

I nodded, "Be careful, Wonder Boy."

As soon as I said that, Robin went off, and disappeared into the shadows. "I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing." Wally sighed. "So, I'm your ninja boyfriend?"

I smirked; I totally knew that had been coming. Wally and Artemis started their relationship with each other quite badly, but they're starting to warm up to each other.

"Guys, either you tone down your voices or you save this for later!" I teased them just as Robin came back from his little field trip.

"Or you could get a room!" Robin smirked, winking at me.

"Dude, where were you?" Kid questioned the younger boy.

"Breaking radio silence!" That was the only answer we got from Robin before we heard his cackles on repeat, and then, a loud boom. "That's our cue. Move!"

We all ran out of our hiding spot, carrying Kaldur behind us. When we knew that the soldiers were well back on our trail, we slowed down our hurried pace, and started to walk. The bioship was just a few meters away, now.

"That was a nice trick you did there, Boy Wonder." I nudged Robin's side, smiling proudly at him. He's never hacked something as complicated as that before.

"Thanks." Did I see his cheeks darken just a bit? "Hey, this is the first time in years that you've called me Boy Wonder!"

I felt embarrassed, I had been so caught up in my gratitude for Dick that I had accidentally called him by his righteous name.

I shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about, Wonder Boy."

That's when we reached the bioship, and I had never welcomed it's sight so much as tonight. We scurried inside, helping Wally and Artemis carry Kaldur.

We set him down on a medical bed, and instantly wired him up to a bag like the hospital's have that bring you blood inside the system. Instead of blood, the bag carried water to the inside of his body.

Artemis and I were assigned looking over Kaldur, and making sure we gave him enough water for him to recover before we got moving.

'_Hey everyone!' _M'Gann exclaimed inside my head. _'I've got Superboy and we're on our way!' _She sounded chirpier than usual, and I could only think that her happiness was contagious.

I heard a gasp come from behind me, "Who are you? And how did you get inside my head?" Kaldur shouted, and he tried standing up but Artemis and I held him down.

'_Hello, Megan! Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something!' _

I chuckled at M'Gann, _'It's okay. Just try to get her as soon as you can before Kaldur starts going crazy.' _

'_Wait, wait!' _Wally turned to us with widened eyes. _'I didn't get a souvenir from the mission!' _

'_Don't worry! Got the souvenir thing covered!' _I could picture M'Gann smiling in mischief, but what did Superboy and her carry? I could not have the slightest idea.

I could only imagine that it was big and that it was going to be a big surprise to all of us.

I smiled down at Kaldur, "Nice night to get your memories back, huh?"

I said it with such causality, that my friends and teammates couldn't help but let out cackles and chuckles.


	13. Reds

**Gotham City**

** September 22, 06: 56 EDT**

"And then he said—" Barbara got interrupted by Dick nudging my right rib. He was wearing a ginormous grin.

"What is it, Dick?"

"Artemis _is here!_"

Instantly, a smirk of my own crept up my lips. I scanned the area to quickly set my eyes upon the blond girl standing awkwardly in the middle of the courtyard, not sure of what to do. She pulled down her skirt, yeah; she wasn't a big fan of anything that didn't cover her knees.

I stared as Bette came toward her, blue eyes sparkling in interest of seeing fresh meat to tamper with.

Barbara gave us a questioning look, "You know the blonde?"

I shrugged before grabbing Dick's hand and dragging him to where Artemis stood, "You could say that."

I came to stand behind Artemis, and casually wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "So, Arty, I see that you met Bette! What do you think of Gotham Academy so far?"

Her eyes widened comically, "Diana? You _go _here?"

"Did I not mention that when you went to my house?" I turned to Bette, "We can take it from here."

Bette raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure, Diana? I can give her a tour with no problems."

I shook my head; "You do that for everyone, Betty. You should take a rest today, I know that the cheerleading practice tires you out."

Bette smiled at us in gratitude, and left to her other girl friends. I turned to Artemis just in time to see Dick snapping a picture of them both.

"We'll laugh about this someday."

Artemis turned to me, "Isn't this the guy that you had a picture of on your nightstand?"

Dick instantly smirked at me, and winked teasingly. His clear blue eyes held this joyfulness to them that I had not seen in a very long time. "You have a picture of me that you can see every time you wake up?"

I rolled my eyes, mostly to mask my flushed face. "Dick, _you _have a picture of us both as your phone background picture! _And _a picture of us both on your desk, I think I should be the one asking you why."

Artemis looked in between us two, and turned to me with a smugness in her eyes. I knew that look.

Barbara came toward us, introducing herself to Artemis, and then moving on to talk to Dick about the rest of her story of the boy who had asked her out.

Artemis leant forward, whispering in my ear. "You two would make a cute couple."

I let out a snort, "Just like you and Wally?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Bye guys!"

Dick let his gaze wander from his and Artemis' conversation to look at me questioningly, "I thought we were going _to go train for gymnastics._"

I shrugged, "Dinah said that I could skip today since her and Ollie are out on a date. Besides, _g__ymnastics practice isn't_ _today._"

Dick nodded, "Don't get run over on your way back home."

I had almost looked at the dark-haired boy in startlement. Those were the same words that Roy had told me a few weeks back. I missed the older redhead, I hadn't seen or heard of him in such a long time.

The last time both him and I had seen each other was when Artemis joined the Team, and that had been more than a month ago. I didn't know anything about what he was doing, or if he was doing fine.

I didn't even know if he was alive!

I crossed the street, close to my neighborhood. That last thought unnerved me. I knew that Roy was perfectly able of taking care of himself, but that didn't mean I couldn't worry over him.

Roy had always seemed like a brother figure to me. We used to fight, argue, laugh, and train together. Since Ollie and Dinah went on dates often, Roy would come over to the house and keep me company. We would watch James Bond movies, and we had even gotten in a food fight once.

Roy and I would sometimes go out. We would go paintball fighting, to Smoothie King, grab a bite at an expensive restaurant, and even take walks in the beach.

We would have so much fun, even if the beginning of the night would start out with us both shouting at each other. We would always hug it out.

I felt myself sighing in grief, "Where are you, Roy?"

I unconsciously sped up my pace. I often did that when I was nervous or maddened by something, or, in this case, some_one_.

I took my cellphone out of my backpack, and dialled Roy's number. I wasn't sure if he would answer or not, but I could only hope. The ringing went off once, twice, and finally three times before someone on the other side picked up.

_"Yes?" _

I let out a nervous laugh. "Hey, Roy! It's me, Diana. I just wanted to see how you were doing. I haven't heard from you in a while."

_"Oh, hi. I've been busy lately, but I'm fine…"_

An awkward silence passed in between us.

_"Hey…Uh, thanks for checking up on me." _

I grinned to myself, "What are younger sisters for?"

_"They're for annoying you constantly on the phone after you've been on a mission." _

"Hey, this is the first time I've called you in months! Be grateful I haven't bombarded your phone with calls and texts!"

I heard a deep chuckle from the other line. I took out my house keys, already reaching the quaint building that I lived in. I opened the door and threw my backpack on one of the kitchen's stools."

_"Diana, I need to go." _Roy's voice suddenly turned serious. _"Something came up. A new mission." _

I felt like I shouldn't have made the call. "Oh, okay then. I guess, good luck on catching the bad guys!"

Roy sighed, _"We'll go to Smoothie King soon, all right? Just like old times." _

I rubbed my forehead, "Yeah, okay. Roy, you can't keep the universe waiting."

_"Bye." _

"…Bye."

The line went dead, and I couldn't help but drop the phone on the beige couch in the living room. I wanted to be able to talk to Roy for longer. It's been a whole month, and even more, since we last contacted each other. I couldn't help but think that it wasn't fair.

"Boy troubles?"

There. Was. No. Way.

I didn't dare turn around to prove that my guess was correct. I knew that voice. I hated that voice. All my emotions and thoughts despised him, except a small side of me that told my heart that he was still a part of me.

"What are you doing here?" I didn't have to look at him to know that he was smirking. That smile full of malice.

"No 'hello' or 'how have you been'?" When he realised that he wasn't going to ever get a reply to that, he sighed. "I could have not come here today, you know? I could have stayed away from you. Far away."

I turned half of my face to look into his eyes. He had the dark blue eyes of the ocean, and they bore the same colour as my own pair. "Wouldn't it have been better for you to stay out of my life, then?"

"I came for a reason."

I turned my whole body to face him, slowly, at a threatening speed. "What could your reason possibly be?"

"Oh, I'm sure you've already figured _that _out. You're a very smart girl."

I definitely knew why this man was standing in front of me today. His face told me that it wasn't for my own well-being purposes, but that didn't stop the persuasion from being there. I have been having troubles lately, troubles that only he could help me with.

"You don't want to admit it, but you know you need me." His dark brown hair glistened in the sunlight streaming in from the windows.

"Why would you help me, _dad_?" I spat at him, venom on my tone.

My father's eyes softened, "Why, I'm only looking out for my little girl!"

"Looking out for _me?" _I exclaimed indignantly. "If you truly cared about _me, _then you would have called at least _once _these past five years! Where the hell have you been?"

"Watch the language, young lady!" My father looked at me warningly, but I only glared back until he backed down. "Diana Rosa Crane, I came here for a reason. I saw you on TV lately, and you almost got yourself _killed! _You couldn't control your powers, you couldn't bend them to your will!"

I looked down in shame. No matter how horrible this man was, he was still my father, and getting lectures from him was like Dinah calling me out on something bad that I did. I just couldn't stand it.

"So, you are _willingly _offering me your help?" I asked suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

My father shook his head, "There's no _catch. _I just don't want to have a daughter who dies in battle because she can't control her powers! I don't want my legacy to be a teenage girl who dies because she was premature on bending her powers."

I sent him a deadly look, "Cut me some slack! I've been training my butt off these past three years with no mentor to actually teach me something about my powers! I'm doing pretty good without another time manipulator helping me along the way!"

My father sighed, and suddenly, I saw how truly old he was. His years were catching up to the younger body. "Sweetie—"

"You have _no right _to call me that!"

"Oh, and your dear old _Oliver _does? He's not even your real father!"

"He's more of a dad to me than you have been these past five years!" I shouted at him. "How do you even know about Ollie? Have you been spying on me?"

"_I wanted to make sure you were all right!" _My father finally screamed in my face. His tough exterior was crumbling. "_Don't you get it? _I have been _worried sick _about you all this time! That's why I came here today to help you with your powers! That's why I've been looking out for you these past years!"

I looked down at my socks. They seemed like the most comfortable thing to be gazing at, right then. "That still doesn't make it right. It doesn't make you coming here fine."

Suddenly, his calloused hands grabbed me by the shoulders. I was so shocked that I didn't push him away. "You don't have to forgive me! Just _learn from me! _You need this, and you know it! What will happen when you face a situation where the only way you can get out of it is slowing time, and slowing you with it?"

My father was seventy. He was old, but he definitely didn't look it. He was trapped in the body of a forty-year-old man; it was almost a blessing and a curse. Still, whenever I stared into his blue eyes, I saw him for the age that he truly was.

He could pass away at any moment now, but he was offering to help me master myself. It was a wonderful opportunity for me. It meant the less chance of dying. It meant one more day in staying alive.

That was the one goal both Dinah and I were trying to achieve. My _father _was giving me the chance to learn from him, even if it was for only one night. It would seem extremely foolish of me to let an opportunity like this pass away.

Yet, I didn't trust this man. I wanted to be able to trust him, I really did, but I couldn't. He'd hurt too many people, endangered too many lives, and shouted at me too many times.

I didn't have a good reason to believe him, or to let him train me.

I didn't trust him. Not anymore.

"Fine. I'll learn from you." I glared up at him. "I'm only doing this because this decreases the chances of me dying, though. It's the perfect opportunity for me to learn something about my powers."

My father archaically snickered, and I swore I could see a glint of accomplishment swimming in his eyes. "Good. Well then, Diana, I'm going to go ahead straight to the point."

I nodded, that was probably the best option.

"You need to learn how to stop, slow, and fast forward time with you going through those time changes, too. For example, when you're trying to get away from the enemy, and you need to jump a twenty-meter drop, you're going to hurt yourself by just jumping. You need to be able to slow yourself down as you halt time itself!"

I rolled my eyes, "All right, Albert Einstein, cut the crap. Teach me how to do it, and then we can merrily walk away as if nothing had happened."

My father smirked, and it wasn't like the warm ones that Dick often gave me. "Oh, but you need more training than for just one day, young lady. We're going to have to train for quite a few weeks, now. That is, if you want to be able to use your powers at their full potential."

I glared at him, "I agreed to it because you said you would be able to help me. I didn't think you would go ahead of yourself and think we could do it for more than just a few days."

"Sweet—Diana, you know, more than anyone, that to succeed, you have to train. Training has to be of more than just an hour. Especially with your powers."

I huffed, getting frustrated. This hadn't been our agreement. "I should just kick you out of the house."

My father tusked, "But you won't do that. I'm the only one who can possibly help you. You _need _me."

I looked down toward the floor, seemingly the millionth time that evening, and raised my eyes up. My face kept facing down, but my eyes glared at him, and I answered between clenched teeth. "_Fine, dad." _

My father smirked menacingly, and motioned for me to follow him out of the house. When we got outside, there was a motorcycle waiting for us both, and it was parked as if this was where it belonged.

It most certainly didn't belong there, but it was still there. It seemed impossible to move away. It haunted me.

We got on the bike, and I didn't ask questions. I didn't have to. I already knew where my father was going to drive us to, and even though I had no intention to visit that place, I didn't think we had a choice. It was the safest place for us to be in at that moment.

We drove in silence for half an hour. Those thirty minutes made me think about how awkward it could get between a father and daughter. How horribly uncomfortable a relationship could get.

There was nothing to talk about. There was nothing for us to catch up on, no 'how you doing' or 'what's up'.

There was nothing that could possibly break the dense layer of years separating us both.

Absolutely nothing at all.

We passed buildings and parks, but I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was so new to me. I had walked through these roads almost a billion times, but never had they felt so strange. It felt just like it did when I saw my father; it was exactly like talking to a stranger for the second time.

You didn't remember names, you don't know anything about them, but you have seen them. You formed a connection with them. You just can't figure them out, though.

At least, not anymore.

When we got to the low ceiling buildings, I was shocked to find them the same as how they were when I was nine. My father chuckled at me from behind, "You definitely haven't changed. You still have that child-like wonder in you."

I glared at him, "Thanks for noticing, _dad."_

He just ignored me, and put on his sunglasses, walking into the apartment that used to be ours. The inside of our old house was definitely the same, too.

The cheap furniture was still decaying, and the lamps flickered just slightly. The bathroom was full of ants crawling about, and the air conditioner barely worked. We had bought about four fans when I was little, so I turned them all on.

"Did you—Did you visit this place?" I hesitated. "You know, after mom…died?"

My father sighed, and just then, he looked extremely weak and pale. "Many times. I still lose count whenever I try to find out how many times I visited this place. I never did any changes to it, though."

He paused, this wasn't easy for him to admit."You couldn't bring yourself to?"

My father nodded, and for the first time in years, he actually smiled in appreciation. "I couldn't bring myself to, yeah."

As soon as the grin came, it vanished, and in came his strict side. "All right, this is what we're going to have to do…"

Throughout a full five hours, we practiced. I learned, I added into his techniques, and could I just say, I was a good apprentice.

I listened intently to everything my father had to say about my powers. I sucked in the information like a vacumn, and I could see in my father's eyes, I was getting almost everything right.

We trained until my insides and outsides hurt. We practiced inside of the apartment, doing little warming up exercises and then getting on to the good stuff.

It was almost overwhelming, you could say. I tried to stay whelmed though; I know my father was going as slowly as he could with this much little time. I could feel my insides burning up every time I tried to slow my body down.

I failed every attempt, every single one, and I had almost given up hope that I could do the advanced techniques that my father was teaching me. The man in front of me, my creator and my enemy, didn't lose hope on me.

"Let's go to the roof. _Now._"

I cocked an eyebrow at my father, but he just looked at me and shook his head. I had to listen to him.

Just this once.

This was going to be the only time in my teenage life where he tried helping my powers and I.

The wind bellowed upon my hair, waving it side to side. The setting sun was beautiful against the skyline of Gotham City. The screams and pleas resounding the area ruined it all, and I couldn't help my instinct, I wanted to help those victims.

I looked into my father's eyes, "I _have _to help those people!"

My father only looked at the horizon, and smiled. "You are just like your mother, you know that?" I gazed at him in confusion. "At the same time, you are just like me. The three of us just wanted to help humanity."

I realised that I wouldn't be able to help anyone tonight.

I shook my head in disagreement. "Mom wanted to help humanity, you want to destroy it, and you just don't realise it. I don't want just to _help_. I want to save humanity."

My father looked at me with wise eyes, "You're doing an amazing job at it, that's what I would tell you if I saw humanity like you did. Since I don't, then I am forced to say that you're doing a pathetic job at it."

I glared at him, "Let's just get on with the training!"

My father nodded, and placed me close to the edge of the building. He stood behind me, a hand on my shoulder. "All right, remember what I told you. You take deep intakes of breath to calm yourself down, and then think of the most relaxing memory you've ever had. Finally, you will time to slow down, but will yourself to do it, too."

I nodded, and was about to breathe in deeply when I felt myself being pushed off the apartment's roof. I gasped and struggled to intake air for I was too shocked to what had just happened.

I willed my body to relax, telling myself that this was just practice. My father was _not _trying to kill me.

Then, I took in deep breaths. I thought about sleeping next to Dick, and how peaceful we seemed whenever we slumbered on with each other. Finally, I willed time to slow down.

Nothing broke my fall, though. I focused harder, and thought about that almost indescribable feeling Wally got when he ran so fast that everyone was in slow motion. I thought about jumping into the water, and the bubbles leisurely rising up. The waves crashed slowly down on me.

Soon as that, my whole body was falling languidly. My hair floated up, in front of my face. My blue eyes scanned the streets below, watching as everyone strolled away from me. They seemed nonchalant about a girl falling ten feet from the air.

Then again, they were in slow motion, too.

My body landed on the cemented floor gently. I returned time back to normal and looked at my father, who was smiling at me from the top of the building.

I stood up, "You are one crazy man! But it worked!"

For the first time since I'd been with him, I laughed. It was harder than it was supposed to be and unnecessarily loud, but I didn't mind. I didn't care.

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**Gotham City**

** September 22, 20:34 EDT**

"Red Tornado has siblings?"

_"Join the 'Shocked That Red Tornado Actually Has A Family' club! __D, I tell you, they were even more dangerous than Tornado could ever be!" _Dick exclaimed from the other side of the cellphone.

Apparently, when him and Artemis had entered the Cave to greet the rest of the Team, they'd gotten attacked. It was Red Tornado's two siblings, a boy and a girl android who could control water and fire. It had been tough on everyone.

I should have been there to help them.

"So, Tornado is just gone now? Banished? As in, he's never coming back and he's off the radar for a while?"

_"Yeah. Batman can't track him, and if he can't, then I doubt anyone else can."_

"Bet you ten bucks that we will be able to find Tornado in half the time that it took Bruce!"

_"You're _so _on!" _

I let out a chuckle, but then it was quickly silenced by a thought. Should I tell Dick about what had happened today? How would he take in the news of my father teaching me about my powers?

_"D, what's wrong?" _There was too much worry in Dick's voice.

I rubbed my eyes, and let out a short, and forced, laugh. "Nothing, Wonder Boy! I just can't believe Red Tornado would just _betray _us like that!"

Yeah, he didn't need to know. Not yet, at least.


	14. Alpha Male

**Guys, I love Diana so much :D I have no idea why, but it just suddenly dawned on me. I love this chick. Anyway, I see that we've reached a mark of 48 revies, which I do believe is a lot in the span of 1 month. I love you guys for supporting this story, and I feel very grateful that some of you like 'piggythelaw' or 'IceQueen2196', 'Anime hotty lover.18', and 'LadyFelton1994' are so dedicated to reading this story. I love you guys for reviewing, it literally brightens up my mornings.**

**Well, all I can say now is that, keep reviewing! You guys are very dedicated and awesome people, I like to hear what you think of the story! :)**

* * *

**Mount Justice**

** September 23, 06: 34 EDT**

"Thanks, but no thanks." Kid muttered as Green Arrow placed a bowl of pretzels in front of him.

The Justice League was currently repairing the damages that Red Tornado's android siblings had done to the Cave. Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern had just gotten the power back on in the building.

We were all pretty bummed out about the fact that Tornado had actually betrayed us, and even though I wasn't there when the attack happened, I still felt the tension the rest of the Team possessed.

I looked at Ollie through my mask, "We want answers, GA. Not consolation food."

"We need to know about Red Tornado and his siblings!" Robin slammed his fist against the steel table.

"Exactly!" Kid exclaimed. Ollie moved in to take the pretzels away, but Kid clutched them. "Keep the bowl…"

I rolled my eyes as Wally started swallowing the food whole. Artemis slapped the back of his head, which made him choke for a while.

I was about to grab Wally a glass of water when, all of a sudden, Superboy moved with increasing speed toward Aqualad, and fisted his shirt. "_You knew?"_

I narrowed my eyes at the scene unfolding in front of us all, and got myself ready to stop time at any given moment that the interrogation went too far.

"That android and his maniac family almost _killed M'Gann!_" Superboy tightened his grip on Kaldur.

"Conner!" M'Gann flew over to the clone. Yes, we'd found him a real name. He had to enrol in a school, and we didn't exactly want him to go by his superhero name. "What are you doing?"

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and _said nothing!"_

Instantly, I was out of my place in the table and walking cautiously toward the three non-humans in the Team. "_El…que_?" I stuttered, my Spanish coming out.

"You knew?" Robin's eyes rested on me for more than necessary before glaring at Kaldur.

"And you didn't tell us?" Kid hissed.

"I saw to protect the Team from—" Aqualad tried defend himself.

"Protect us from _what_?" Artemis placed her hands on her hips. "Knowledge that might _save _our lives?"

"You almost died!" Superboy repeated, looking at M'Gann who stood in silence.

"Enough." Batman commanded from behind us. "With Red Tornado missing, the Team will now be seen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."

I raised an eyebrow at the excited older man. "I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys!"

We all looked between each other, some shaking their heads and others with their faces grim.

Conner threatened Kaldur, "After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna—"

"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League." Batman stepped up. "That makes him a League responsibility. You _will _leave him to us."

I looked at Robin, and jokingly imitated Bruce's talking. Batman knew that we wouldn't stay put for long, but he insisted on telling us to stay in the Cave. Did he learn nothing from our mission to Cadmus?

Dick hid a faint cackle behind his gloved hands, but it didn't go unnoticed by Batman. He glared at the both of us, and I instantly felt like I was being scolded by one of the villains.

"I have another assignment for this team. " Batman called up a news article on the Cave's holographic computer. They were all news about a gorilla running loose around the United States.

"Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerilla Gorilla?" Kid rolled his eyes.

'_Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?'_ Conner quirked an eyebrow, using the telepathy link we had whenever we were together.

'_Lighten up, Conner! Remember how Cadmus seemed like just a random lab in Washington?' _I asked the tense boy.

'_Guerilla Gorilla, Diana! Even the name oozes lameness all over the place!' _Wally shook his head at me.

"Batman, please!" Robin stepped up, ignoring the conversation going on in his head. "Tell me you're not sending us in this jokable wild ape chase!"

"I _never _joke about the mission." Batman glared at his protégé.

'_Ooh, burn!' _I smirked.

'_Really, D? Did you _have_ to say that?' _Dick looked at his toes; he seemed like a little boy whom his parents were upset at.

"I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns. Mary Hills' encounter was only the latest in a series of incidents." Batman turned to Kaldur, "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

Aqualad nodded, and we all started filing out of the mission room. Kid huffed, "Your team?"

I didn't think that Kaldur would just keep a secret from us, his best friends, without a reason. He has always entrusted us with all the knowledge he's ever encountered about a mission, and every secret he's held.

I refused to believe that Kaldur would not tell us about a mole on the Team and be mad at him. Not until he told us his reason to keep this from us.

"Let me guess," Robin spoke up as we walked to the bioship, "You're not angry at Kaldur?"

I shook my head; "We still don't know why he wouldn't tell us about a mole. We should wait until we have the full story before we begin to judge him."

"You're as rational as ever!" Wally turned back to look at me.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" I crossed my arms, "Because, that was a really bad insult."

Captain Marvel flew in, and was about to make his way into the Martian ship before Robin had to ask, "You're coming with?"

"Sure! We'll have a blast!" That was the man's answer before he walked in behind Conner.

"Translation?" Robin turned to us. "He blames us for Red Fiasco. He doesn't trust us."

Aqualad walked in our conversation, and Kid turned to the older teenager. "It's a big club."

Robin and Kid walked away, but I stayed behind with Kaldur. "Don't listen to them, at least, not yet. They don't exactly have a firm reason to be mad at you."

Aqualad nodded, giving me a small unsure smile, and we walked in with the rest of the Team.

We all sat down on our righteous places in the bioship, looking out of the windows to the Cave. It was battered, and it was broken, but it was going to be all right.

Miss Martian woke up the organic ship, and we all went flying off to where our mission was in.

This was definitely going to be an awkward, tense, and long bioship ride.

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**Northern India**

** September 23, 21: 36 IST**

Robin, Artemis, and I jumped out of the bioship. We had been assigned the first perimeter watch, just to make sure that there wasn't anyone here that would tail us.

I took out my whip, and ran to the right. I surveyed the silent scene before me, and if I hadn't been on a job, then I would have stood by and enjoyed the nature all around me. Unfortunately, I had to return to where the Team stood, awaiting our return.

"All clear!"

Aqualad nodded, and pressed the stealth mode button in his suit. "Switch to stealth, and we'll review mission parameters."

Instantly, M'Gann and I switched our uniforms to their darker version, but Wally begrudgingly did it after a few moments, "Parameters? We don't need no stinking parameters!"

"It's a reckon, we know what to do." Robin joined in with the rebelling. M'Gann and I exchanged looks, _'This isn't good.' _

_ 'No kidding.' _

"Kid! Robin!" Aqualad tried to reason with them.

"The four of us," Robin gestured to me, "Started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from _us!" _

"Or did you forget that like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Kid placed his goggles on top of his eyes, and sped away with Robin.

We were silent for a few moments, doubt and slight shock floating in the air.

Conner came up to M'Gann and grabbed her arm "Common, I'll keep you safe!"

M'Gann seemed to rant telepathically, and it reminded me of my rants in Spanish. She seemed to be mad, extremely mad, and in that moment, I agreed with whatever she was saying.

"I'm…just trying to protect you." Conner seemed confused about her getting upset at his actions.

"Like Aqualad protected us?" Artemis defended our friend.

"We don't need a keeper!" I exclaimed, and the three of us stomped away from the last two members of the Team.

We were the only girls on the Team, making us the ones that the four boys protected the most. It angered me, really. They knew we could take care of ourselves _by ourselves. _

"Thank you for backing me up." M'Gann grinned as we walked around the Indian jungle, not really having a set place to go to.

"It's no big." I shrugged.

"You would have done the same for us." Artemis kept a straight face as she said this, but I could tell that there was this joy in her eyes.

In such a short time, we already trusted each other enough to say we were best friends. We could count on each other to have our backs, and we knew that any of us would give our lives for the other.

We reached a small waterfall, and there were a few trees that had fallen down littered across the soil floor. Artemis jumped over one of the trunks, while M'Gann levitated my body off the ground with a giggle.

"Oh, yeah," Artemis rolled her eyes jokingly, "I'm _totally _feeling the love here."

I smiled, "Don't worry, Artemis. You'll get levitated at least once in your life. M'Gann loves you, too."

We kept walking right by the river; the sound of the waterfall cascading down soothed our nerves. I had been feeling as if someone was watching us, from a distance, but close enough to unnerve me.

Suddenly, a giant crocodile jumped out of the water. It was about to snap M'Gann in half, but she held its mouth open. I was about to strike with my whip, and Artemis with her arrow, but two other crocodiles surged out and bit at the backs of our costumes.

The crocodiles submerged us both back into the water, and started rolling over and over. It dizzied me so much that I was left heavily disoriented. I tried focusing all my energy into slowing down time.

The crocodile kept rolling over, but now it took it's time. My dizziness went away soon enough, and so did my nausea. I turned around, placing my feet on the crocodile's nose, and pushed my body off. A part of my costume had been ripped off, exposing my upper back.

I returned back to normal. I could make out M'Gann's body swimming toward Artemis, and disengaging her from the crocodile. M'Gann quickly swam over to me, but when she saw that I was fine on my own, she stopped.

M'Gann blasted both crocodiles out of the water, and made an invisible force field. The force field made a circle of dry land in the middle of the river, letting both Artemis and I gasp for a rush of air.

"Okay! Nearly drowning two nights in a row is _way _less fun than it sounds!" Artemis coughed up some water.

"Tell me about it!" I gasped. "Once, I almost drowned four times in _one _night!"

"Talk about tough luck!"

I rolled my eyes, "No kidding."

M'Gann made a narrow pass through the river, letting Artemis and I move out of the water to actual dry land. "I'm going to establish a telepathic link with Aqualad." M'Gann announced from her floating space above us.

The Martian and Atlantian talked for a while before M'Gann turned to us, "You two should go dry out."

Artemis sighed, "I need to go back and get my quiver."

"Is it still in the river?" M'Gann asked, coming down to stand in front of us.

The archer nodded, and M'Gann went to go fetch it. Artemis and I looked at each other in silence, agreeing that we should go sit down somewhere. We found a bent tree trunk, and sat down on it.

"The collars around their necks were controlling the crocodiles." I spoke up as M'Gann came back with Artemis' quiver. There were no arrows inside it.

"Yeah, I wonder who could have—" Kaldur's voice cut off Artemis.

_'Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link up with the entire team! Now!' _

_ 'Link established.' _

_'Should he really still be giving us orders?' _Artemis complained, _'And should you two really be following them?' _

_ 'Listen, please!' _Aqualad pleaded.

_'Oh, good! Aqualad's voice in my head! I _so _missed that!' _Kid sassed back.

_'Hey, Kaldur!' _I could picture Robin's teasing smile, _'KF and I were attacked by giant vultures! Of course, since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves...'_

_ 'If he did, he wouldn't tell you.' _Artemis clicked her quiver back on.

_'Superboy, are you online or just pouting?' _M'Gann placed her hands on her hips.

_'Probably just pouting about the fact that you're not as helpless as he thought you were.' _I rolled my eyes.

I knew I wasn't helping the fact that we were all in a mission and fighting, but what Conner said earlier really had angered me.

All my life, my father had underestimated me. Everyone, except my mother, had underestimated me. I didn't like that my friends actually thought we were helpless. Of course, the underestimation could also be considered a good thing. It meant that no one would expect me to be as dangerous as I actually was, but that didn't mean that it couldn't easily anger me.

_'I'm not pouting, Timeless! I'm busy. Call back later.' _As soon as he said that, there was only silence from his end.

_'What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us!' _Kid exclaimed.

_'He should be chalant!' _Artemis eyes narrowed.

_'Way chalant!' _Robin huffed. _'Extremely chalant!' _

_ 'Guys, you should really get off Kaldur's case!' _I tried rationalising with them.

_'No, Diana! How should we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?' _Artemis scowled at me.

_'Like Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves!'_ M'Gann crossed her arms.

_'All right,' _I admitted, _'with that, I agree.' _

_ 'Did he really think Rob, Diana, or I could have been the mole?' _Wally questioned.

_'We've known each other for years!' _Robin exclaimed.

_'That's why he must have a good reason to keep this from us!' _I shouted.

_'Trust is a two-way street!' _Artemis stood up, pointing at me.

_ 'And you know that you'd hate it if we kept secrets from them!' _M'Gann threw her arms up in the air.

_'Not that we do that, ever.' _Artemis shrugged.

_'Enough!' _Aqualad commanded, _'Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team so save him.' _

A shiver passed by me, the air was getting cooler, and my exposed back didn't like that fact. Who would have enough strength to capture Captain Marvel?

_'Under your leadership? I don't think so—' _

_ 'This is not up for debate!' _The girls and I looked at each other; surprised that Kaldur had used such a forceful tone of voice on us. _'You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over if you wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down.' _

I could imagine Dick's face at that offer. I knew that now, that he finally realised how truly time consuming and stressing being a leader could be, he wouldn't really want to be the one.

_'But until that time, I am in command here.' _

The sky had become the dark colour of obsidian, and the stars littered the horizon as if that was the last time they were going to be there. We had all regrouped, finally agreeing on a game plan.

Robin, Kid, and I (after I almost chopped their heads off for being so insensitive) were to keep the closest watch of the cemented building in the middle of the jungle. Yeah, _no one _was going to think anything odd was going on!

M'Gann stood in camouflage on a tree trunk behind us, while Aqualad and Artemis crouched a few meter away from us.

_'I'll fly over.' _M'Gann spoke up.

_'Negatory.' _Kid and I declared in unison. _'There's a force field standing around the whole compound.' _

_ 'Highlands are insulated, but one good shock could cause a momentary gap.' _Robin checked his arm computer.

_ 'It would be big enough for at least an arrow to enter the compound. We're in luck!' _I grinned, hinting at Artemis to do something about it.

_'I see a target…' _I could see Artemis notching an arrow on her bow.

_'Then be ready to hit it,' _Aqualad commanded, _'Be ready, all of you!' _

Kid, Robin, and I looked at each other. Wally and Dick seemed a bit weary to be receiving orders from Kaldur, but they knew there wasn't a second option. I could also sense Dick's hesitation about having Kaldur step off from his position as leader.

Robin wasn't ready, not yet.

Aqualad jumped out from the shadows, and shot an electricity charge into the force field.

_'Now!' _

When Wally gave the signal, Artemis shot her arrow and it met the target. Instantly, the force field was gone, and we all hurried over to where Aqualad stood.

Robin stopped, and looked up, so I followed his actions. There was a monkey on top of the building. It started to screech; I think that was their alarm system.

A bunch of chimpanzees jumped out of the compound's rooftop, and we all took our fighting stances. I felt like punching real live animals could be illegal, but I had to do it anyway.

I kicked a chimpanzee, and punched another one. When I had a small break between all the fighting, I looked around all the chaos. Two chimpanzees that seemed to not want to let go of him were attacking Robin.

I took out my whip, and grabbed hold of one of the monkeys' collars. It ran away from us, screeching annoyingly.

"Timeless!"

Robin shot two birdarangs in my direction, and I could have been sure that it was going to hit me until they flashed behind me. The birdarangs had hit three chimpanzees' collars. They had been about to attack me.

I turned to the skilled boy, "Thanks, Wonder Boy!"

I ripped the collars off most of them and they scurried off into the deep jungle. That had been harder than it sounded like.

Then, the real challenge came out of the building. Guerrilla Gorilla held a gun on his shoulders. Kid and Miss Martian quickly took care of the fact that the gorilla wanted to kill us.

The seven of us walked into the building, and we soon saw the mastermind behind the controlling collars.

And when I say mastermind, I _mean, _an actual mind.

"It's the brain!" Kid exclaimed.

Artemis rolled her eyes, "I can see it's a brain?"

"Not _a _brain, _the _brain!" Kid explained.

"Did it ever matter?" I whispered to the person next to me.

"Not really, no." Robin grinned, shrugging.

"In the flesh," The brain answered in his thick French accent, "Mallard."

Guerilla Gorilla pressed a button, and instantly, a force field surrounded us all. We all fell down on the floor in an instant.

_'Miss Martian, Superboy, now!' _Aqualad shouted.

M'Gann's eyes started glowing hot white, and she recovered the switch from Guerrilla Gorilla's hands. She pressed the button telepathically, and the force field fell down.

We all stood up, and as soon as we did that, the wall fell down to reveal Superboy with a white wolf on his side. We all started attacking the gorilla from all sides.

The wolf pounced, Kid sped up and punched, Robin used his grappling hook to swing and kick, Superboy gave one of his powerful punches, Miss Martian levitated him and slammed him on the ground, Artemis shot one of her explosive arrows, and I lashed my whip at the gorilla.

We all worked as a team. Artemis, Robin, and I shot our explosives at the gorilla. Aqualad had run off somewhere in the compound.

M'Gann, Artemis, Wally, Conner, Dick, and I surrounded Guerrilla Gorilla, our weapons ready. Aqualad came out from a corner, Captain Marvel with him. I was so relieved that the man was all right. I wouldn't want a League member to die in our mission. That wouldn't be a good file record for us.

The wolf that had come with Conner was fighting on our side, as he stood right next to Superboy.

The gorilla growled, and I smirked, "What is it, chump? Can't escape a group of kids?"

"No, Mallard. These will not be our battalions." The Brain's mechanical body expanded itself into what seemed to be a high-tech weapon, "_Bonsoir, mes amis."_

"Get down!" Kid shouted at us all.

I could see everyone crouching low on the ground, but I stayed standing. I really doubted that the Brain would hurt us this time; he just needed an escape route.

Robin's eyes widened at me, but he didn't say anything. His hands grabbed onto the top of my head, and pushed me down to the floor. He wrapped one of his arms around my head, and the other went to hold onto his birdarang.

I felt both indignant and kind of blissful. I could take care of myself, and Dick knew it better than anyone, so why cover me protectively? I have no idea. At the same time, my girl instincts said that the boy that I had some sort of attraction to holding me in an attempt to make sure that I was safe was sweet.

I was still indignant, though. Extremely indignant.

The lights went off, surrounding us in extreme darkness. I tried blinking; the abyss around me making me nervous. A shiver passed through me, making me feel self-conscious about the the fact that my back was bare.

Suddenly, ultra violet lights flickered on.

We all pulled down our weapons, and Dick's arms went to rest on his side. "You should have gotten down like Kaldur told you to." He scowled.

I frowned back at him; "I have a problem at following rules, if you haven't noticed. Besides, the Brain didn't even attempt to hurt us!"

We were both speaking in hushed tones, but surely, Artemis could hear the arguing since she was next to us.

"Wait," Kid looked confused, "That big weapon thing was a…light switch?"

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "You're surprised, why?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

We all made our way back to the bioship, and shockingly, it took us forty minutes. I wouldn't have thought that we'd traveled the forest that far in.

Aqualad and I were taking off the control machines from the rest of the animals, and he insisted that I did the honours on taking the last chimpanzee's collar.

"That's the last of the collars?" Captain Marvel asked the tiger at his side.

The tiger roared, and Captain Marvel grinned, "And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble."

The tiger let out a roar again, and started purring as Captain Marvel scratched his ear. "Good! I'll be back for a visit, I promise!" I've never seen someone pet a tiger before.

I moved in to give the orange and black animal a soft rub on top of his head. His fur was incredibly soft, I could see why someone would want to hunt it.

The tiger jumped away, and both Captain Marvel and I waved at him. I must admit, the tiger had really grown on me.

"Look, I need to know," Robin stopped Aqualad from coming into the bioship. "Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"

The Team turned to pay intent attention to whatever Kaldur had to say about the situation. "The source of the tip was Sportsmaster."

I looked worriedly at Artemis as she exclaimed, "What? You can't trust him!"

I walked down from the ramp and placed a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her shouting down. Kaldur sighed, "I do not. It seems possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide our team with false information."

"And given how this mission went he nearly succeeded." Robin muttered, his eyes softening in realisation.

"But you had to consider that it could be true…" I nodded my head.

"Yes, as leader I did." Kaldur admitted. "In which case I did not wish to alert the traitor."

Robin sighed, "I hate to say it, but…makes sense."

I grinned, and bumped my shoulder with his, "Told you so, Wonder Boy."

"I hate to say this, too, but you were right." Robin gave me an affectionate smile. "Just like always."

"Let's cut the romance out for a while, okay?" Wally frowned at us.

"I am still prepared to step down as leader." Kaldur reminded us, but we all just looked at each other and shook our heads.

"All in favour of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Kid asked us, and we all raised our hands up in the air. I looked at Robin, and he had a reassuring smile on as he gave a nod to Aqualad. A silent agreement passed through them.

"Guess it's unanimous!" Captain Marvel outstretched his arm. Kaldur and him shook hands. "See you tomorrow!"

"Uh, you're not coming?" I placed a hand on my hip, raising an eyebrow.

"No, gotta fly!" That was his answer before he jumped from the floor and flew off into the night sky.

We all interchanged looks of confusion, but left that behind us, and boarded the bioship. The wolf that had fought alongside us was following us into the Martian ship.

"So, what _are _you gonna call him?" M'Gann asked.

"What's wrong with Wolf?" Conner smiled sheepishly.

"Generic…but acceptable." Wally concluded.

"Oh, just go with it, Wally." I chuckled. "It _is _Conner's first pet!"


	15. A New Family

**Can I just apologize for taking longer than usual? I HAD SO MUCH HOMEWORK! My best friend who commented on my story last time will relate to that statement. The science teacher decided to go all out on the homework!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character or scene that appears in Young Justice. I own the character, Diana Crane and her whole story (including parents). All associations or similarities to Diana Crane are completely coincidential. I also own any of the scenes that do not occur in Young Justice**

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**Mount Justice**

** September 27, 01: 23 EDT**

Dinah laughed as I gave out punch after punch, trying to win our little spar.

Of course, how was I supposed to win against my mentor? Well, Dinah has a little, let's say, Achilles' heel, on the bottom right of her stomach. If I could reach it, I would be sure to triumph. Dinah kept that place well guarded when she was fighting though.

This wasn't going to be easy.

"Is that all you've got? I didn't train a petty princess!" Dinah taunted me; her black leather cloth irritated me. How in the world did a strapless shirt not fall off when she was bouncing in place like that?

I struck out with my leg, giving her a good image of how much of a 'petty princess' I really was. Dinah blocked my kick, but she smirked. Oh, she knew exactly how much her comment had riled me up.

My mother and I were both alone in the mission room. I had decided that I wanted to practice some close combat, but no one had offered to do it with me. Dick was still in Wayne Manor, even though he promised he would come here at one o'clock, and Artemis was in Gotham City.

She mentioned something about having to do homework, and how Gotham Academy was such a waste of her time.

I stopped circling Dinah with a frown; "We've been going around in circles for about two minutes now! Someone needs to strike!"

Dinah grinned, nodded, and tried to use her leg to throw me off balance. She almost succeeded, but I did an aerial cartwheel to get out of her kicking range.

Dinah whistled, "Learned that new move in school?"

I smirked, "Rob taught it to me. He said that it would be good for my gymnastics routine, _and, _good for getting away from a low punch or kick."

"You two sure seem to be spending a lot of time together…" Dinah punched, and I blocked, "Something your dear old mother should know?"

"Nothing you should know," Dick waltzed into the mission room, wearing his signature smirk, "Yet."

I grinned; my face surely covered in red tinting, and went up to hug the dark-haired boy. He wrapped his arms around my back, but as soon as he did that, I proceeded to give his arm a slap.

Dick winced, his blue eyes widening behind the sunglasses, "What was that for?"

"What was that for?" I mocked him, scrunching up my face, "That was for saying something so inappropriate to my mom! I don't say those type of things to Batman!"

"Oh, stop being so uptight about it, Diana!" Dinah let out a chuckle, "It's all good fun."

"Yeah, D." Dick grinned, knowing full well that he had won the argument. "It's all good old fun."

I huffed, crossing my arms tightly against my purple long-sleeved blouse, and straightening my jeans. Whenever Dinah was there to witness Dick and I's arguments, she would back the boy up. She would never give me a reason as to why she was so keen on doing this.

Dinah placed a hand on Dick and I's shoulders, "Robin, Diana wanted to practice close combat, but I have work to get back to. You think that you can train with her for a while?"

Dick nodded, "It would be my pleasure."

Dinah nodded, and left us both alone. She winked at me before leaving the room completely. I think I know now where I get my teasing from. I see why Artemis would always scowl at me whenever I mentioned Wally and her; the teasing was just too petrifyingly embarrassing.

Dick took off his blue jacket, exposing the black shirt that was underneath it. It fitted him well, maybe _too _well. I couldn't help but look down at the floor, flustered beyond imagination.

Dick _never _wore tight fitting shirts. _Never. _

"Are you okay, D?" Dick asked, his body moving to face me completely.

I let out a nervous laugh, "Just forming a plan on how to beat you, Wonder Boy!"

Dick smirked, and nodded, but he was obviously unconvinced. We went onto the circular floor of the mission room, and a smaller fluorescent sphere formed beneath our feet.

Dick and I stood there for a second, both perfecting our fighting stances, and bouncing in our spots. I switched from a right to a left fighting stance, bringing my right arm to my solar plexus. Dick copied my actions, still smirking at me.

Finally, we both moved toward each other. Dick made the first move, trying to aim a punch for my head, but I leaned back. Since my back was extremely flexible, I was able to place my arms behind me, and cartwheel out of the way. I kicked Dick's hands mid-cartwheel, making him clutch them in pain.

I returned my body upright, and moved in to try and kick Dick's stomach. He blocked me, grabbing my leg, almost making my balance non-existence. I made a wild grab at Dick's shoulders to not fall backward, and he laughed.

"You can't use your enemy for support!"

I used Dick's shoulders to push myself into the air. I flipped above his head, and landed with a soft thud behind him. I pulled myself into a fighting stance again, and smirked. "You were saying?"

Dick used the small second that was used for my gloating to swipe my legs away from underneath me. I hit my head with the bright white floor, letting out a short growl of defeat. I couldn't believe I had been so dumb to give him an opening like that one.

I was just about to stand up, but Dick plopped down, straddling me. I suddenly felt hot, and it wasn't just my face, but it was my whole body. I wiggled, trying to break free before my head became a tomato, but Dick just cackled.

"You're not getting away from me this time!"

"Who says?" I huffed, and started wiggling harder.

"I do," Dick winked, "Just tell me that I won and I'll let you go right now."

I rolled my eyes, "Do you seriously expect me to say that?"

Dick smirked, "Unless you want us to stay in this position for a _very _long time, then yes, I do expect to you admit it!"

"Who says I don't want to stay in this position for a _very _long time?"

"Hmm," Dick leaned in closer to me, "If you do, then all you have to do is tell me. I'm quite comfortable here."

I pursed my lips, "Just get off, Wonder Boy."

I was saying that to him mainly so I wouldn't have to go through an embarrassing situation where Dick's face was much closer to mine than it had been in years. And then I would have to fan myself for the next hour.

Dick cackled, "You're all red in the face. The colour looks good on you, I like it." He smiled as he got off of me, and helped me up.

He had just given me _the _smile. The one that made all the girls in Gotham Academy swoon and the older ladies resent the fact that their husbands weren't as handsome as him.

I would have been immune to it if it wasn't for the fact that I was also a girl. I brushed my hair behind my ear, looking away shyly before realising something.

"You haven't greeted the rest of the Team." I exclaimed. "You need to go and say hello."

"I'm not a little kid, D. I'll choose when I go and say hi to the rest of the guys."

"And when exactly are you planning to go to them?"

"Right now. Common!"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation at the odd boy, but followed him out of the mission room nonetheless. We strolled through the deserted hallways, listening to the cheering sounds coming from the living room.

"You can do it, Kaldur!"

"Go, Supey!"

"Kick his butt!"

Dick and I looked at each other in confusion, and jogged the last few meters into the large room. When we got there we were greeted by the sight of Kaldur and Conner playing a round of ice hockey, with M'Gann and Wally cheering them on.

"Hey, Rob! You're here!" Wally's attention was diverted to Dick and I as we walked into the room.

"You think I would miss a round of hockey?" Dick smirked, giving Wally a greeting fist bump.

M'Gann turned to me, "You know, I'vebeen learning about this new recipe for fast cooking meals, and cookies, too! I thought we could make some for the Team today?"

I nodded, smiling at her kind offer. "It would be my pleasure. You think we could wait for Artemis to come, though? I know that she needs to at least learn how to bake cookies."

"Not a very good cook?" M'Gann chuckled.

I shook my head teasingly, "Terrible."

"Hey," I turned around to see Artemis walking toward us with a smirk, "I heard that!"

I grinned, "It's _meant _to be heard."

Artemis gave me a sincere smile, and moved in to give me a very brief hug, and then embraced M'Gann, too. Artemis had been starting to develop in more ways than one, and I always liked to think of them as good. She was beginning to become more feminine, more gracious with her words, and a little more careful with her appearance.

I knew it sometimes drove Wally crazy when Artemis came in looking like one of those actresses in the TV, even though he wouldn't admit it.

"You know what we should do?" I rubbed my chin as everyone started chatting away again.

"What _should _we do, D?" Dick smirked. I smacked his head lightly, looking at him both affectionately and scolding.

He smiled, and I smiled back. His eyes softened, and I swear that there was this twinkle in them. It made my head spin pleasantly.

"I, uh," I grinned in embarrassment at having been left speechless, "M'Gann, Artemis, and I can cook a celebratory dinner tonight for succeeding in every mission so far!"

M'Gann nodded enthusiastically at my idea, but Artemis had to have some convincing to help us out in the kitchen. In the end, she agreed to watch over our cooking, making sure that nothing was going to get burnt down.

"If _any _of you guys ask me to make sandwiches for you," Artemis glared, "You won't live to see another day."

All the boys shared slightly indignant, but terrified looks. Kaldur reluctantly placed a hand on my shoulder, unsure if Artemis was going to pulverize him with her sharp look. "Thank you, Diana, for offering to do that for us. Would you like more help with the cooking?"

I turned to M'Gann, but she shook her head. "Three is enough to make what I have in mind."

With that note, Artemis, M'Gann, and I moved into the kitchen while the rest of the Team turned on the television in the living room to start playing video games.

I turned to the girls, "M'Gann, tell us what you learned this week."

M'Gann clapped her hands in excitement, "Oh! I was watching the Food Network, and the week's special was about beef!"

As she explained to us what we were to make for dinner, we all agreed that no powers were going to be added into the cooking, just to make it traditional. Artemis and I got out all the ingredients, and M'Gann started preheating the oven and seasoning the pork tenderloins.

Artemis was the one who roasted the beef, and made its finishing touches, M'Gann did the seasoning and sauce, and I finished the beans off.

We all worked in unison, laughing whenever something fell out of our hands or the table.

The pepper fell, "Whoops."

The applesauce toppled over, "Looks like we'll have to make another mix…"

One of the finished pork pieces fell down on the floor, but Artemis picked it up in a flash. "It's still eatable. Let's just give this to Baywatch."

M'Gann and I raised our eyebrows at that, but kept silenced. We still needed to finish the new mix of applesauce, and the boys were getting pretty impatient with their hunger.

Wally kept calling out to us if 'it was ready' or 'how long were we going to take'. According to his stomach growl's, he was indeed starving. Dick came into the kitchen three times, almost sneaking a taste of the applesauce, but I caught him in time. Kaldur came in once, also wanting to have a piece of our food.

"It's _not _ready yet!" The three of us girls shouted at the boys as they started piling in, Conner with them this time, too.

Dick gave me his infamous puppy eyes, the ones that made Barbara annoyed at me for always giving into them.

I glared at him, "No, Rob. Don't do that."

He kept giving me that look. The one look that could melt a girl's heart from miles away, and he looked at me with such intensity; it was hard to neglect his wants and needs.

I slipped a tiny piece of the pork onto his hand, "Tell someone, and you're dead." He pressed his lips against my cheek, grinning triumphantly as he left.

It had been the first time in a long time since he'd done that. I could feel a tingling sensation coming from where his lips had made contact with my skin, and I would admit it, that had felt incredibly nice.

"Aw, you two would make the cutest couple!" M'Gann gushed when all the boys were out of earshot.

Artemis smirked, "Even _I _agree with M'Gann."

I shook my head in disappointment, "No…I—I wouldn't want to…He wouldn't like me, not like I do."

M'Gann gently placed her green hands on my shoulders, "If he doesn't like you romantically, then I'm not a Martian. Robin obviously has some attraction toward you, Diana!"

Artemis crossed her arms, "I think he likes you, too. I mean, he gives you a nickname, hugs you, flirts with you, and comes to the Cave _mainly _because you're there. Believe me, I know he does."

I snorted, "He gives you all nicknames, and he flirts with a ton of girls back in Gotham…It's just his nature."

Artemis shook her head in disbelief, "You're in denial!"

"Oh, just like you are about Wally?" I exclaimed at her in a hushed tone.

"Guys!" M'Gann came in between our little quarrel. "We should get back to cooking."

And so we did. I finished roasting the pork while M'Gann perfected the applesauce and Artemis made the finishing touches to the plates. All in all, I would admit that the pork with the applesauce and the beans had been cooked to perfection.

When we called the boys to make the table, I don't think I'd ever seen anyone so eager to put the forks and knifes on top of a napkin. Wally used his super speed to make the table by himself after we promised him to give him extra beef if he made the table in less than one minute.

"Fifteen seconds," Dick nodded in appreciation. "_Impressive!" _

We all sat down on the table, Kaldur and Wally at the ends of it. Artemis and Dick were on either side of me, while Conner and M'Gann sat down together opposite from us.

I smiled at everyone, all of them grinning back at me. M'Gann's eyes widened when I turned to her, "We need to get the drinks! What do you guys want?"

Shouts of suggestions were being thrown everywhere, and M'Gann soon became overwhelmed with all the requests. Conner and I stood up from our places in the table, helping M'Gann with carrying everything over to our friends.

The 'no powers' rule was still being used. M'Gann quite liked the idea of not having to use her powers for a while.

Everything was carried over to the table. I gave Artemis and Dick their respective drinks, and they gave me grateful nods. As soon as we all sat down, Kaldur clinked his glass in an attempt to make our chatter die down for a moment, "Let's make a toast…To the wonderful food M'Gann, Diana, and Artemis decided to make for us!"

Everyone raised his or her glasses filled with coke into the air, "Cheers!"

"I want to make a toast, too!" I grinned, "To living until we're at least twenty!"

Dick wrapped an arm around me, "To winning every fight!"

Artemis smirked, "To not going to the hospital every week!"

Conner nodded, "To not having to see monkeys every time we go out."

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Guys? We're getting a little too carried away!"

We all let out explosive laughter, but M'Gann was the one who had the last word, "How about, to us?"

We all grinned, agreeing with her toast, and clinked our glasses together. A wonderful feeling settled into my stomach. I had found a new family. Some of us might be broken, might be from another planet, might have only been born a few months back, or might have had a rough childhood, but we all had one thing in common.

Our personalities all contrasted perfectly.

"To us!"


	16. Revelation

**All right, since the guest reviews can't be answered by PM, then I will just answer them here from now on. **

**Guest: Hi Anime hotty lover.18! Heh, thank you very much!**

**Dancer of Danger: ...I love you.**

**YOFWRTS: Goodness gracious, K! You make me sound pathetic with the whole 'your only friend who reads this story!' I updated now, are you finally happy? :)**

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**Mount Justice**

** October 1, 18: 13 EDT**

"Those two sure seem to be spending a lot of time practicing." Wally chewed on a chocolate bar as we both watched in transfixed amazement Kaldur and Dick's sparring. "Don't you think it's getting a little unhealthy?"

I shrugged, "The training that Black Canary and Batman made me do was much more worse than what they're doing right now."

Wally gave me an odd look, but I just straightened my jean jacket. "Geez, what type of things did they make you do?"

I smirked, "Things you would cower at the sight of."

Conner, and M'Gann passed through the mission room, Wolf trotting behind them. I grinned in happiness for the loved-up duo. Even though they both had very different, opposite, personalities, they balanced each other wonderfully.

Artemis came into the room just then, moving to stand beside Wally. They both smiled at each other, and I went to leave them to their own little world.

"Do we tell them?" I hinted at Dick and Kaldur as they stood watching the two obvious couples chat away with each other.

"It is not our place." Kaldur shook his head, smiling at me. "Perhaps we can train together, Robin proved to be a wonderful sparring partner."

I nodded, "Bring it on, Team Leader."

_'Recognized: Batman 02.'_

Batman walked into the Cave, ignoring us completely. "Computer, national news."

I rolled my eyes, letting out a sarcastic snort. "Nice to see you, too!"

Batman glared at me, but sighed nonetheless. "Hello. Now, turn your attention to the computer." I knew Dinah had talked to him about being a better father to Dick, since he was a kid and required attention. Bruce was trying to be change for the boy.

I appreciated that from him.

The computer's screen turned on to reveal Cat Grant making a report on the odd plants that started growing in Metropolis just this morning. "The initial attack was short lived, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve. Despite the intervention of Superman _and _the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight."

"Should we get out there?" Dick asked, eager to experience some action.

"No," Batman turned to us. "The League will soon have the situation under control. That's not why I'm here."

We all looked in between each other, curious to see what other purpose Batman could have for us. "According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster formula to Kobra."

"Who combined with Bane's venom to create Kobra Venom!" Wally exclaimed.

"Which the Brain used to create his animal army." Dick pitched in.

I saw Conner scratch behind Wolf's ear, and I smiled. "And upgrade Wolf to what he is now."

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars." M'Gann added. "Like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary."

"Batman," Artemis' faced contorted in worry. "Is it possible that those plant thingies are on Kobra Venom, too?"

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis, the vine's cellules does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant." Batman typed into the computer, showing us the genetics chart.

"This cannot be coincidences," Kaldur announced, "Unrelated criminals are cooperating with one another worldwide."

"Exactly." Batman stated, and I watched as Dick opened his own holographic computer, making another analysis. "It's now clear our enemies formed a kind of…secret society of super villains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."

"Got that right," Dick agreed, showing us four different screens behind Batman. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, and Taipei."

Suddenly all the screens had static playing on them, and I raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Rob? Is this a late April Fool's prank?"

Dick shook his head repeatedly, "It's not me! Someone's cutting into our satellite signal! _All _satellite signals!"

The screens all went black for a few seconds, before the face of the Joker appeared on them. His wide smile was a diabolical as ever, and a shiver passed through me. I snatched Dick's hand, holding it loosely.

When I had first started to have on-field missions in Gotham City with Black Canary, I had a run-in with the Joker. It had been terrible, terrifying, and the Dynamic Duo had to help us. Dick knew how badly I was injured that night, about three deep cuts on my legs, and a bunch of shallower ones.

He silently squeezed my hand as the Joker started to talk, a voice full of malice. "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regular schedule mayhem," He took out one of his knifes, "To bring you this important announcement…"

The Joker moved the camera to focus on the other villains in the dark room, Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Ultra-Humanite, and Wotan. "…From the _In_justice League." Joker's laugh echoed, and involuntarily, I tightened my grip on Dick's fingers.

Count Vertigo started narrating, now. "We are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them, then a sum of ten million American dollars in required. Deliver instructions have been sent to the United Nations, there is no time limit, but the longer your government sways…"

Joker turned the video camera to him again, "The longer we have our…jolice." His voice was the only thing that could be heard, and even after the video ended, I felt the sound echo inside my mind.

Dick turned his head just slightly, looking at me. "You all right?"

"Just peachy." I let go of his hand reluctantly, the comforting warmth leaving my body.

"Roger that, Aquaman." Batman pressed his comm unit. "He wants to prepare the ransom as a fallback, but it won't come to that."

Dick started typing away in his computer, trying to get a little more information from that announcement. He reversed the video, stopping to recite all of the Injustice League's names.

Was I the only one who thought that was a pretty lame group name?

"Those are seven heavy hitters!" Dick exclaimed. "Probably behind everything we've faced."

"There's your secret society." Wally sighed.

"Not so secret anymore…" Artemis hesitated, as if not sure if they meant to give out the members' identities.

I snorted, "What type of super villain society would just suddenly give out their identities? Not a very well-played move."

"Perhaps…After India they knew we would deduce the truth and saw no point in fighting any longer." Kaldur pondered over that idea.

"Yeah? That was their mistake!" Wally pounded his fist. "Right now, I say we go kick some plant creature butt!"

"The Justice League will handle the plants." Batman's eyes narrowed with purpose. "I have a different task for this Team."

"Oh, man!" I punched Wally's shoulder, but he didn't protest. He had seen it coming from a mile away.

"With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it." Batman's voice softened at the last sentence.

"You do notice what you're really asking them to do?" Zatara questioned Batman, a hint of protectiveness in his voice.

"They're ready." Batman turned to us, a hint of a smile on his features.

I couldn't help but grin at that. What I'd worked so hard to achieve, the adults knowing how capable we were in doing dangerous mission, was finally done. They recognized our powers, and they knew we were ready.

_I _was ready.

"Ready?" Wally asked dumbly. "Ready for what?"

I punched him again on the arm, and he winced, "Will you cut that out?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "_Hello_, Wally? If the big guns are fighting the plants, who do you think we'll be fighting?"

Wally's eyes widened in realisation after Artemis pointed at the computer screens with the Injustice League's faces still in them. Goodness sake, he could act so stupidly sometimes.

"Well, Batman, I trust you're correct." Zatara's accent sounded as thick as ever.

"I trust _you _can locate the enemy." Batman got straight to the point, as always.

"Indeed," Zatara confirmed, "Wotan's involvement such as sorcery is part of how the plan is controlled. Robin, if you would provide a hologram."

Zatara chanted words backward, and instantly in the holographic map, a big yellow dot formed in the east coast of the United States.

"There," Zatara announced, "That's where you will find the Injustice League's central control system."

"Coordinates locked it." Dick informed. "The Louisiana Bayou."

"We are on our way." Kaldur motioned us to move out of the mission room and change into our uniforms. I sighed; I liked the purple shirt I was wearing. It was extremely comfortable.

We all made quick changes, and piled into our respective spots in the bioship.

The ride to Louisiana did not take very long, in fact, just about thirty minutes and we were there already. I was glad for the short ride, I was eager to kick some super villain butt in this mission. No matter how afraid I was of confronting the Joker once again, I knew this was needed.

I wanted to get my honour back, and the only way that I could do that was by facing my fear.

_Ring. Ring. Ring_

My eyes widened, and I started searching for my cellphone in the backpack I brought to the bioship with me all the time. It contained perfume, deodorant, a change of clothes, and of course, GPS, extra explosives, a spare whip, and my cellphone.

I whipped up the phone. "Who's this?"

_"It's daddy. Listen, you need to train at least once today. You haven't come visit me in almost three days, you'll get rusty." _

I looked around nervously, giving my teammate's confused auras a reassuring smile. "_Mom_, right now is not a good time to be _calling me…_I'll call you back after I'm done with the mission. Love you, bye!"

I ended the call before my father could mutter a single word, and gave my friends another grin. "That was Black Canary…"

Most of my teammates went back to chatting with each other or looking out of the window. I could still feel Robin's eyes on my back, though, and that unnerved me more than anything else.

I could never fool Dick, not him out of all people! He knew me better than I did sometimes, and that was the bad thing. At that moment, concerning my extra training, I didn't want him to know me well. He needed to stay away from what I was doing, he couldn't know.

"What's in the duffel?" Kid asked Aqualad. My attention instantly went over to Kaldur's extra weight. He never carried a bag with him in missions.

"Plan B." Aqualad answered, not meeting our gazes.

Miss Martian suddenly grunted, and Conner started panicking. "Are you all right?"

"Dizzy…"

"Martian's get airsick?" Robin exclaimed.

"She does look a bit greener than usual." Kid pondered over M'Gann's short answer.

"Not me, _her." _M'Gann held her head with one hand while steering the ship with the other.

"I feel fine." Artemis answered.

Robin looked at me worriedly, but I shook 'no'. "I'm okay."

"Not _them," _Miss Martian clarified, "The bioship. She's trying to shield us, but…"

M'Gann didn't get to finish her sentence because, suddenly, we were falling closer and closer to the swamp area. We all held on tightly to our seats or seatbelts, and when M'Gann regained control of the bioship, a strong force lurched us upwards.

The bioship spiralled out of control, with all of us shouting inside of it. I slowed down time, but instead of slowing down the world around me, I made my powers work on myself and nothing else. I felt glad for the spinning to lessen greatly, but helpless that I couldn't help my friends too much.

When the ship stopped moving, I returned time to normal just to see a bunch of thick vines crushing the bioship, urging it to go under the swamp.

Soon enough, I could see Black Adam breaking a hole on the top of the bioship, making M'Gann groan out in pain again. Superboy jumped out of his seat, and pounded Black Adam out of the bioship.

Water started rapidly pouring down from the roof hole, but we all came prepared. I grabbed my underwater breathing tube, submerging when everyone else did.

"M'Gann, you need to open a hatch!" I shouted at the Martian who stood dumbfounded, her waist already invisible to see underneath the water.

She slapped her forehead, "Hello, Megan! Of course!"

She grew gills, and swam down with the rest of us, opening a hatch at the bottom of the bioship. Aqualad shouted at us, "Out, everyone out!"

We all swam with great efforts, using the bioship as a propulsion helper, and resurfaced out of the water.

We came out of the swamp, hiding behind a few trees, and watching as the bioship got a nasty taste of the plants on Kobra Venom. "She's in shock," M'Gann informed us. "She'll need time to recover."

All of a sudden, a wave of nausea and horrible aching pain settled on my body, overwhelming all of my senses. We all fell down to the dark grass with screams of shock and pain.

"Vertigo!" Kid exclaimed in recognition.

"It's _Count _Vertigo to you, peasant." Vertigo answered smugly.

I focused all my energy in stopping time, but it took great efforts with all the pain that Count Vertigo was focusing on making us feel. When time stopped, I took a few moments to recover from the previous intensity, and tried getting everyone away to safety.

I carried Robin first, then Artemis, Kid, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Wolf out of the battlefield. I hid them a few meters away from where the original fight was going on, too exhausted by everyone's weight to carry them out any further.

I returned time to normal, and the distance that I gained from our enemies would have let my teammates have some time to recover from the intense pain was it not for Kid shouting out, as if in a mid-battle cry.

Count Vertigo and Black Adam's eyes focused on us, and they started hurrying us. We all got into fighting stances, but at the last minutes, Aqualad shouted at us telepathically, _'Miss Martian, Timeless, Robin, disappear! We will keep them busy! You three, fulfill the mission objective.' _

The three of us nodded, and ran away from the fight. M'Gann turned invisible, while leaving Robin and I have to blend with our surroundings. I turned on my stealth mode; the white of my costume would not fit with the dark greens and browns of the forest.

We all walked in silence for a while, Robin just stopping to inform us about what directions we were supposed to take. The sky had darkened greatly, only leaving the half-obscured moon and the stars to guide us toward the Injustice League's headquarters.

The whole time we were walking and keeping some telepathic conversation going, I was fidgeting with my gloves. I was worried about how Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Red Arrow would handle the mutant plants in Star City, how I was going to confront the Joker, and about our other four teammates that had been left behind.

_'I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others,' _M'Gann spoke. _'Should we—'_

_ 'Sorry, that's not the gig.' _Robin cut her off. _'This is.' _

He pointed at the giant dome in the middle of the forest. A ginormous plant was growing out of its center. I bet all my money on Poison Ivy having to be next to that stupid thing all the time.

_'Robin's right, M'Gann.' _I looked back at the Martian floating behind me. _'We were given clear orders to take out the IJ's headquarters. Besides, Aqualad wouldn't have sent us here by ourselves if he thought he couldn't handle Count Vertigo and Black Adam by himself.'_

M'Gann nodded, sighing. _'You're right, Diana.' _

_ 'Looks like that plant is acting like an antenna to the other plants worldwide.' _Robin observed the headquarters.

Suddenly, a bunch of vines coiled around my legs, wrapping themselves around my body. "Well, hello!" Poison Ivy smirked in amusement, Ultra-Humanite appearing beside her with a high-tech gun. "And, goodbye…"

I struggled against the vine's hold on me as Ultra-Humanite took aim at us. Miss Martian was the first to react though, her eyes started glowing, and the gun pointed downward into the earth instead of at us.

The gun shot at the base of the vines, and we all were let out. We ran out of Ultra-Humanite's shooting range, hiding deep in the shadows as we hurried out of the action.

I couldn't see M'Gann, which panicked me. Robin and I were running off from the scene, but where was she?

Three thick vines jumped out of the earth, almost seizing me in a death grip. Robin and I jumped up, using our acrobatic skills to swing from vine to tree. We pirouetted off a tree's branch, flipping in the air to gain a little more momentum.

I landed on another nearby tree, but Robin was under me on the ground. Poison Ivy's vines tried cutting through him, but he jumped up and down, running for his life.

I took a look around; Ivy was not concentrated on me, so maybe I could do something to help Robin.

I was about to jump off the tree and hurry to help Robin when his voice shouted in my head, _'No! Complete the mission, D!'_

'_The mission is not as important as your life!' _I argued back.

I could almost feel him roll his eyes, _'I've handled Ivy by myself before, now go!' _

I growled in annoyance, Wonder Boy was right. He's fought Poison Ivy before and won. He could handle this by himself.

I quickly performed an aerial flip, and landed on the moistened ground with a soft squish. I ran, keeping an alerted lookout for any of our seven enemies around me. My boots made squishing sounds over and over, throwing away all the chances I had at being covert.

When I reached the Injustice League's headquarters again, I saw Wotan, Black Adam, and Count Vertigo hauling the Team in a bright yellow mystic jail cell.

Suddenly, the cell dissolved into thin air, and Wotan was violently shoved onto the ground. Superboy, Wolf, Kid, Artemis, and Aqualad landed on a muddy lake, and I started sprinting toward them.

They were going to need my help.

Aqualad and Artemis took Poison Ivy, Superboy and Wolf took the Ultra-Humanite, Kid and I decided to take on Count Vertigo and Black Adam.

Wally raced toward the two enemies, but Vertigo used his mind powers to slow him down. It was horrible, and almost terrifying seeing Kid Flash not being able to run, but instead, only walk at the pace of a turtle.

I used my own powers to stop time, and got Wally out of Vertigo's range. I used the time that I had, which was all the time in the world, to tie both men up in an isolated part of the forest.

I hauled Count Vertigo first, as he was the most dangerous, and set him a kilometer away from where the fight was going on. Then, I took Black Adam and transported him to where Vertigo was. Once that was done, I came back to the fighting field and returned time back to normal.

"What the—" Kid shouted out, realising that Count Vertigo and Black Adam were both gone.

I smiled, shrugging. "I stopped time."

Kid grinned, shaking his head in mocking disbelief. "I am _never _going to get over how cool your powers are."

Suddenly, a maniacal laugh echoed around me, "Look who came for a visit, the _time stopper_!"

I looked up; feeling my blood run cold and millions of shivers creep up my spine. The Joker smirked down at me, giving out another blood-curling cackle, "Long time no see, and I must say, you look better than ever!"

I looked upward to the ginormous control plant as it exploded in flames, Miss Martian and Robin looked down upon us. I grinned, and Robin smirked back at me.

I heard the Joker clicking his tongue, and I turned around just in time to see him taking his knife out. "What a shame…I quite liked that plant."

As soon as he stopped talking, he lunged at me. I hadn't been expecting the attack, so instead of graciously moving out of the way, I slipped and feel down on the mud.

The Joker let out a mocking laugh, one that made my fists bunch up. "Aw, is the little power girl defenseless?"

The Joker smirked, "What a shame." With that final note, he tried slashing at me, but I held up my hands instinctively. I hadn't been thinking, I had just put my arms out in front of me, and then, a force field formed in front of me. The Joker was thrown back in shock.

I looked at my hands in surprise. _I could do that?_

The Joker looked up at me, malice and maddened anger in his face, but then he turned to how all of his allies were holding up. "Children…Children foiled our plan? Inconceivable, unacceptable, _retrovutionaliable! _That last one might not be a word, so sue me!"

I let out a relieved laugh as the Joker moved away from me, probably thinking that with a force field he wouldn't get anywhere. The bad thing was…he decided to go and attack Robin.

I was about to go and help him, but Count Vertigo gave out an order, "Kill them! Kill them all!"

That's when Black Adam decided to strike out at me.

Okay, so I hadn't exactly prepared myself to be hit with the force of an elephant, and I didn't know how to turn my force field on again. That's exactly why when Black Adam struck a blow; I went flying backwards, hitting a tree.

The only good thing about this situation was that Black Adam decided to not hit me any further. He probably agreed with me about I not being able to handle another super strength punch.

I couldn't stand up, that push had been enough to weaken me greatly. I watched as Artemis got a taste of Count Vertigo's power, Black Adam hit Superboy, and Robin and Aqualad got Wotan to send electricity up their bodies.

I wanted to help them. They needed my assistance this time, but I couldn't stand up. My legs were too weak, but my team needed me. My _friends _needed me.

I summoned all of my remaining strength, and pushed myself off the bottom of the tree. I still couldn't stand up, and the fact that Wotan sent a shock of electricity to hit my body didn't help me either.

The pain was almost unbearable; it was just like getting electrocuted over and over again. It went on and on and on, and I could only lie there in the mud. The one thing that really got to me was the fact that all of my teammates were experiencing the same pain, too.

All of a sudden, the electrocuting subsided. I looked up at Wotan as he gazed in shock at Aqualad. My eyes widened, Kaldur had Doctor Fate's helmet in his hands.

"The helmet of Fate!" Wotan exclaimed.

Kid pushed himself off the mud, "No, Aqualad! Don't!"

Aqualad, being the stubborn boy he was, placed it on top of his head. Doctor Fate's spirit was combined with Kaldur's, and we had no idea if they were going to be able to be separated again.

I watched in awe as Wotan and Doctor Fate fought, bursts of orange and yellow lighting up the sky in great explosions. The two men battled, sending mystic enchantments at each other.

Doctor Fate easily won the fight, tying up Wotan with makeshift chains. I turned my attention away from them as I saw Robin land next to me on the mud, the Joker hot on his trail.

"The more the merrier!" The Joker laughed, "I always wanted to see your faces as I pointed a knife at your chests!"

I tried standing up, my legs shaky, but I ignored it. I stopped time, using a lot of my efforts, and took the knives from the Joker's hands. Those weapons plus his smirk was driving me to the point of insanity.

I searched the Joker's suit, making sure that there were no other weapons hidden somewhere. When I was done, I returned time back to normal too see Joker's priceless face when he realised all of his knives were gone.

"Have I ever told you how sweet it is when you do that?" Robin grinned down at me.

"A few times," I shrugged, "You could stand to mention it more."

The Joker growled in frustration, and scowled at us. "Another time, perhaps, children."

Before the Joker could disappear into the shadows, a hit was delivered to his face. I looked up just as Batman let a batarangs fly through the air. I waved at Green Arrow and Black Canary who stood with Batman and Aquaman on a floating platform that Green Lantern made.

The Justice League and the Team all surrounded the Injustice League, and Batman announced out into awaiting group of people, "It's over."

The villains looked at each other, and put their hands up in surrender. "There will be another day." Count Vertigo proclaimed.

"Another day?" The Joker asked, baffled. "_Another day? _There won't be another day! Not for any of us!"

The Joker's knowing smirk made alerted us all, and I unconsciously moved next to Black Canary and Green Arrow. The Joker started wiggling his fingers, and the remaining of the mutant plants sprouted up, their flowers bursting.

"Joker Venom spores!" Batman shouted. "Don't breathe!"

He lunged at the Joker, knocking him unconscious. We all started panicking, and Dinah and Ollie each took one of my shoulders, pushing me back to where the rest of my team was standing.

Robin grabbed my hand, and hauled me right behind him. I inwardly groaned at the sweet, but annoying action. I didn't _need _to be pushed back twice!

"Fear not!" Aqualad, or, Doctor Fate exclaimed. He made his cross insignia, and it sucked all the Joker Venom out of the air. "Fate has intervened!"

We all stood there, finally realising what this really meant. Fate had intervened, not Kaldur, just Doctor Fate.

The Justice League was the first to react, hauling all the villains out of the way. Green Arrow and Black Canary came to check up on me, as most adults were getting ready to depart Louisiana.

"Are you all right?" Dinah asked me, grabbing my face gently.

I nodded, "No cuts, no injuries. Just a little shaken up…I created a force field, too! I'm not sure how to recreate it, but it was definitely cool! I had no idea I could make force fields with my powers."

Green Arrow ruffled my hair, just like he had years ago. "Well, kiddo, I'm proud of you for doing that. You'll now have to practice creating that force field of yours because I wanna see it."

I then remembered something. I had to practice my powers with my dad, and even though what he was teaching me was really helpful, it didn't take the guilt away. I hated lying to Dinah and Ollie about anything, and I despised the thought of having to hide from them. I just didn't have a choice.

Black Canary smiled, "You did a good job today, sweetie. I'll see you back at the Cave to go eat dinner with Arrow, all right?"

I nodded, and hugged the two adults that were dearest to me. The three of us were still in a mission, though, so the hug had to be brief. I waved at my adoptive mother, and kind of adoptive father as they went away to wherever they had to go.

Most of the Justice League had left except for Zatara, Batman, Aquaman, and Captain Marvel, who had stayed behind to see Wally's outburst at everyone.

"How could you let him _put on _the helmet?" He shouted. "Nabu will never release him, now…Kaldur will be trapped inside Doctor Fate forever."

As soon as he said that, Kaldur just casually took off the helmet and smiled at us as if he had just come back from a stroll in the park.

A big smile formed on my face as Wally ran forward. I didn't want to disrupt their conversation; they were the only ones who had been inside Doctor Fate, after all.

"Nabu let you go?" Kid smiled, his voice filled with relief.

"He almost did not," Kaldur admitted, "But your friend, Kent, was most helpful…He says hello."

Batman chose that moment to disrupt our happy thoughts. "We're done here. The super villains' secret society has been neutralized, as for your performance…"

We all stood in anticipation, silently waiting and urging Bruce to keep talking. "It was satisfactory." He answered at last.

We all looked at each other, both relieved that it hadn't been bad and disappointed that it wasn't good enough to be great.

I sighed, slumping my shoulders. I was tired out, and my muscles were just a tiny bit achy. I knew everyone felt the same because as soon as the adults started walking away and talking amongst themselves, we all relaxed and rubbed our shoulders.

Robin came up to me as we followed the members of the Justice League back to the bioship and wherever they had parked their transport. "I'm proud of you." He smiled. "You faced the Joker, and kicked his sorry butt."

I shrugged, "I realised that I needed to face my fear someday, so why not do it today? Sooner is better than later, after all."

Robin nodded, and snuck a light peck on my cheek. It had been quick, and his lips had left my skin as fast as they came, but it still made me flush. We both looked at each other, a little shy, but there was bluntness in our gazes, too.

I was happy, and I knew that he was, too.


	17. Neglecting

**This chapter's kind of short, but it was two days in a row with uploads! You guys should be considered lucky I couldn't actually wait to get this chapter written out and out of the way. Now, this is where the complications start. From this point on: Beware of sappy teenage drama! :D**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

**Mount Justice**

** October 6, 15: 48 EDT**

I tapped my foot in rhythm to the beat of the soft music playing in the living room. It was nice to be relaxing and listening to melodies for a change. After the last mission and school time, I had been exhausted to the very core.

Artemis stood next to me; doing the homework that Gotham Academy had assigned her. We were both leaning on the kitchen's marble counter, looking out at the Team lounging in the sofas. Dick had already finished his homework, and was eating ice cream with Wally behind us.

Kaldur sat on the floor, back resting on one of the couches, and head buried deep in a book. M'Gann and Conner sat next to each other, petting Wolf as we all listened to the music.

It was a relatively quiet morning, Dinah and Ollie had decided to leave me with my friends and go out on a date. The rest of the Justice League was either lounging about in the Watchtower as there were no missions today, or at their civilian jobs.

"Do you know the answer to number seven?" Artemis muttered, poking me with the eraser of her pencil.

I nodded, and proceeded to quietly explain to her the math equation and how to solve it. I didn't want to disrupt the tranquil silence we had for once, so as soon as I was done talking, I kept silent.

There was nothing any of us needed to say; at least, we didn't think we had to utter a word. I could have closed my eyes at that minute an imagined myself in my bedroom at night, all curled up under the covers, complete silence, and the air conditioner on full blast.

"It's nice," I whispered to Artemis, "We haven't had a quiet day in weeks."

She nodded, "School and missions are more time consuming that I thought it would be."

I felt a presence stand next to me, and I smiled at him. "You finished the English homework?"

Dick's eyes widened behind the sunglasses, "That's due tomorrow…"

I smirked, and whispered as to not disturb everyone else, "Yes it is, Wonder Boy."

Dick made a pause. It was very short, and if you hadn't been close to him, you wouldn't have seen the way his eyes clouded over. He suddenly gave me a faint kiss on the cheek, "Thank you for reminding me, D!" He bolted out of the Cave, probably about to get his homework from the Wayne Manor.

I had absolutely no words to describe how much I loved it when Dick showed me that he cared. I adored it when he grabbed my hand for comfort, kissed my cheek when he was proud or grateful of me, and hugged me when I most needed it. His words though, those were the ones that really got me.

Artemis let out a breezy chuckle, "He _so _likes you!"

I let a small smile overcome my features, "Maybe…Just maybe, but don't make me get my hopes up."

If I became too hopeful, too sure, that Dick actually felt a romantic attraction towards me, and it wasn't like that, I would be devastated. Just imagining myself being all happy and sure about Dick and I getting together, but then him going off and dating another girl, that would tear me to shreds.

It would be so dolorous that it would be almost impossible to handle the pain. It wasn't just because of Dick going off with another girl, but it was the fact that I had let myself be too arrogant about the situation.

"—Diana?" Artemis waved a hand in front of my face, making me blink repeatedly. She snickered, and whispered in my ear, "Look at Baywatch!"

I turned around, thinking that Wally would still be stuffing his face with chocolate ice cream, but instead of eating, he was actually in the living room where the rest of our friends were.

Wally was flirting with M'Gann, yet again, but something had drastically changed in the whole situation. M'Gann was with Conner, she knew that for certain now, and didn't feel comfortable with Wally's obvious moves to make her warm up to him.

M'Gann's face was slightly cringed up in discomfort, and her lips were pressed in a tight line, trying to be polite to Wally as to not hurt his feelings. Conner's fist was holding tightly to the sofa's cover, you could tell he didn't like Wally's obvious flirting with M'Gann.

Wolf sat awkwardly on the side, not really knowing if to go or stay, but he sensed that there was a shift in the air around him. Everyone, even Kaldur and Wally, were getting tense by the scene unfolding in front of them.

Kaldur slowly moved to stand next to Artemis and I, and gave us a heavy sigh. "Here it goes…"

Here was the thing; Wally wasn't stupid like you first got the impression of him being. He was actually a very intelligent teenage boy, and he knew when something wasn't right. Wally was great at reading body language, so when he sensed that M'Gann was more uncomfortable than he planned her on being, and Conner's angry behavior, he moved away.

Wally's retreat was very subtle at first; he started with toning down on the flirting to more of a playful banter that M'Gann actually had the pleasure of joining into. One look at Conner's face, though, and Wally came barreling into the kitchen again.

"Wow, Baywatch," Artemis smirked, "That was _so _smooth."

Wally didn't answer her, didn't even bother looking up from the refrigerator. I found that action extremely odd, and when he sat down on the table, chugging milk from the bottle, I knew that he was hurt.

I walked over to him, rubbing his back comfortingly. "Hey, Wally?"

He looked up, and his eyes were so sad. "Yeah…?"

I gave him a sad smile, thinking up a plan to make him feel better. "We should go to that park you've been telling me about all week! I'm feeling like playing tag with a speedster today, what do you say?"

Wally tried giving me a grin, but it turned into a grimace. "Thanks, but no thanks."

I shook my head, "Aw, common, Wally! Just you and me playing tag? I know you've been wanting to take on a time manipulator on Hide n' Seek for a while!"

Wally looked up, and shrugged. "I guess winning a game of Hide n' Seek wouldn't be so bad."

I was about to stand up, and ask Artemis or Kaldur if they wanted to come with, but Wally grabbed my arm. "Can it be _just _the two of us? Please?" He whispered, eyes pleading.

I raised an eyebrow, but kept silenced. I knew that Wally needed some time to recover from the obvious rejection M'Gann did, and I suppose that since I was the one who knew him best here, he wanted to talk to just me.

"All right, Wallman." I turned to the rest of our friends. "We're going out, be back in an hour!"

I took Wally's wrist and hauled him to the zeta beams just when Artemis decided to make a comment, "What should we tell your boyfriend?"

I smirked, rolling my eyes. "Tell him his two best friends went out for a walk! I'm sure he won't mind us going out for a little bit!"

I wrapped an arm around Wally's back, urging him to do the same to my shoulders. He smiled warmly at me, and poked his tongue out for a good measure. Wally wanted me to know that he was going to hold up just fine, no matter how much that rejection had hurt him.

The zeta beams transported us to Star City, and we were deposited next to a seventy's bar. The sun was just starting to set behind the skyline, and the oranges really stood out that evening. It was beautiful, and I knew that the sight lifted Wally's spirits just a little bit more.

We walked in silence through the streets, roaming about in an attempt to find the fastest way to the quaint little park Wally had found one day while running around the city on an errand.

Wally had described the park as beautiful, with a little pond in the middle and over looking the ocean side. The breeze came in pleasantly, and the colors of the sky could really be made out. I was excited to be able to see what had gotten Wally so in love with something other than girls, food, and science.

I turned to Wally, "Wanna talk about what happened back at the Cave?"

He sighed, and shook his head gently. "No…not yet, I want to get to the park first."

I could see that his eyes were dimmed, as if the energy had been sucked right out of him. His footsteps seemed a bit heavier than usual, and there was no goofy smile on his face.

It unnerved me to see him so drained.

When we arrived at the park, I had been thinking of ways to make Wally feel better, so I wasn't able to really enjoy the panorama until we plopped down on a metal bench.

I heard Wally sigh contently next to me, finally letting a smile overcome him. That's when I realised that what lay in front of us was what made him so joyful all of a sudden.

I looked out at the horizon, and was overwhelmed by all the colours around me. The oranges and pinks of the sky grazed the greens of the grass and the trees softly, making the leaves reflect some of the light. The ocean held a sparkle in it as the sun set farther and farther beneath the horizon. There were some clouds littered here and there, making the sky look like a painting.

I smiled at Wally, and he looked back at me, his gaze softening. "Thanks for coming here with me, Diana. I needed that."

I gave him a light bump on the side, "What are best friends for?"

We sat in silence for a little while, just basking in the sight before us. I hadn't seen nature showing how truly wonderful it was since, well, a long time. I had missed the simple beauty of things, and finally, I was seeing it once again.

"I acted like such a sissy." Wally sighed, scowling at himself. "I mean, sure, M'Gann might have ignored me this time, but it isn't something to cry over!"

I gave him a disapproving look, "Wally, you have the right to get upset over that! If that had been me, I _would_ have acted a little bit more maturely, but _I still _would have gotten depressed for a little while!"

Wally rubbed his eyes, and I gave his shoulder a soft squeeze. "I could tell you really liked M'Gann, and it wasn't just because of her appearance."

"Yeah, I—I guess that I liked her more than even _I _knew I did." Wally gazed at me, his eyes full of misery. "I just…I didn't actually _expect _her to push me away from her! All this time, she's been so tolerant about my flirting that I thought that she would never complain about it!"

I ruffled his hair, "You arrogant little speedster! Well, sometimes things change for the better. You know this better than anyone."

Wally smiled, but it was soon wiped away. "Diana, can I tell you something?"

I nodded, "You can tell me anything, Wallman."

Wally took in a deep shaky breath. "Things haven't been…going so well in school for me."

I glared at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Another pause, "I've been…getting bullied. _But! _You can't help me, not today or tomorrow! I need to figure this one out on my own this time."

I growled deep in my throat, so Wally wasn't the most popular kid in the world, but that didn't mean he had to have some brutes make fun of him! Wally saved the world almost _every single day _as Kid Flash!

Wally stroked my head comfortingly, "It's nice that you worry for me, mom, but hear me out. M'Gann rejecting me isn't the only thing that made me burst out so badly back in the Cave. It's the fact that other kids are bullying me at school, too. Those two things combined…I guess it overwhelmed me."

"Wally, you need to stand up for yourself! You can't just—"

"Diana, I can't do that!" Wally's eyes were starting to glisten, my face reflecting more clearly on them. "I just…I need someone to be there for me if it gets too bad, okay? I want that person to be you. You're the one person in the Team that I trust most, please, don't make me to fight against them."

I sighed, not wanting Wally to get away with this. He needed to stand up for himself; he needed to stop people from hurting him. His school life hasn't always been rainbows and sunshine, but he should change that, and this was his opportunity.

As Kid Flash, Wally had big amounts of confidence. Kid Flash was a superhero, a crime fighter, and the protégé of the Flash. Kid Flash had saved entire countries and families before, but Wally hadn't.

Wally needed to channel that confidence and strength that Kid Flash possessed to his life. It was a journey he needed to take alone, though, and it was better that I didn't interfere. This was something that Wally needed to understand by himself, and take charge of it.

"Wallace West, I am not happy with you." I sighed, giving him the evil eye. "But if this is your choice, then I guess I'll have to go with it…"

Wally grinned in relieve, and made a bold move to kiss my cheek. Wally was just like a big brother, a best friend, to me, so the physical affection didn't affect me like how it did when Dick did it.

"Thank you, Diana!"

Wally's eyes gave him away, though. There was this sadness and hidden strength in them that showed me how truly broken this boy was. He had gone through his dad going to jail, his mother dying, and having to go live with his uncle and aunt.

This was the face of a boy in need of a friend. I was indeed going to be that friend that he needed so desperately, anything to help a person dear to me.

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**Gotham City**

** October 6, 20: 32 EDT**

"Dick, you really need to stop coming to my house without a notice." I rolled my eyes at the raven-haired boy as he stashed his grappling hook in a basket with magazines in it.

"I've never heard you complain." Dick winked at me, laying horizontally on my bed, and gesturing for me to sit next to him.

I gave him a small affectionate smile, and moved slowly to him. He opened his arms wide open, as if expecting me to give him a hug as he lay there, but I shook my head teasingly, deciding to sit next to him.

Dick's puppy eyes appeared, making my insides melt. "I'm not getting a hug? But I wanted one!"

I laughed at his silly words, and gave into his wishes. As soon as Dick saw that I was going to embrace him, he grabbed me and pushed me down to his chest.

I was currently sitting in a very awkward position, my torso was all twisted and I was stretching a muscle further than it had ever been before. I relocated myself, lying down next to him, my head on his chest.

Dick sighed contently, "We haven't done this in such a long time…"

I looked up at him, a hint of a smile on my words. "You mean lying down with each other?"

"Yeah…I missed this."

We laid for a while, just enjoying each other's presence. My head was spinning pleasantly, and my heart hammering inside my chest. I hadn't been this close to him ever since August. Dick was right; we hadn't done this in such a long time, and I had missed it, too.

In my opinion, this was a very valuable moment with Dick. Most people would say that an important moment with your loved one, if they are a superhero, is when you're in a mission trying to fight crime. There's the uncertainty on either of you not coming out alive.

I didn't think that was the most important moment, though. It was times like this, when the two of us could just relax and sink into the warmth each of our body's pulsed off that was truly exhilarating.

Just the fact that Dick and I could be in the same room, not muttering a word to each other and be in complete comfort was a wonderful thing. Words were not needed in this situation, when it came to Dick and I being alone in a room, we preferred the silence.

Gosh, we could have been doing the laundry for two whole hours and words would have barely been exchanged between us!

Dick and I had almost of a silent language that we used only for us two, and if we were alone together. It was almost like a little secret between us, the fact that the silence was our way of communicating with each other. We never used it in front of others.

I liked thinking that Dick and I had a little secret going on, one that I hoped no one else would know of anytime soon.

"D?" Dick's chest rumbled as he muttered his nickname for me.

"Yes, Wonder Boy?" I snuggled further on his side.

His hand started stroking my hair in slow, repeating lines. "You and Wally went out today?"

I nodded my head just slightly, not wanting him to stop caressing me. "Can I ask where you two went to?"

I smiled faintly, "Is someone jealous asking?"

There was an abrupt pause that almost made me look up at Dick's steel blue eyes, but he soon regained his ability to speak up. "Maybe, or maybe it's just someone curious."

I let out a huge silent yawn before rolling over on my stomach to peer at Dick through thick brown waves. "Well," I pushed my hair out of my face, "We went out to Star City and took a stroll in a park. Later on, Wally said that he was hungry and we went to eat dinner in a burger place close to the zeta beams. Is that enough information for you?"

Dick nodded jokingly, pushing my head back to lie on top of his crook of his shoulder and arm. "Artemis said that he got whooped by M'Gann and Conner before going out."

I sighed, "Yeah. Wally tried flirting with M'Gann, but you know how she and Conner are together? I think Wally sensed that. He was pretty bummed out about M'Gann ignoring his advances on her."

Dick snorted teasingly. I slapped his arm in an attempt to quiet his cackles down; I didn't want Dinah to hear him! She would start asking me as to why he was there and how he got inside the house.

Then, I would lose my balcony. I didn't want to lose my balcony!

"So," Dick tried musing casually, "Nothing happened between you two?"

I looked up at him in confusion and surprise at his question. It didn't seem like Dick to ask something like that. It had come out of nowhere, there was no evidence pointing toward Wally and I being something other than friends, and it was a very blunt thing to question.

"I, uh, no!" I stuttered, still surprised that Dick would ask that. "Nothing at all! Why are you asking?"

Dick nodded, but his arms were terribly tense. "...Just making sure."


End file.
